Shrouded by Darkness
by Sunwing1999
Summary: What happens to a mage of a Dark Guild when they begin to question their way of life? What happens when they defy their father and leave the guild forever? Will they ever be able to leave that dark past behind and live under a shield of lies? Or will the demons of their past haunt them forever? What destruction follows a young man along their path, if they are Shrouded by Darkness?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 _Update as of 03/02/2017: As of chapter fourteen I will be accepting OC's into this story._

/Neil\

I knelt down in front of the young woman. The old wooden floor creaked as it protested my movements. Her face was down, a head of golden blonde hair obscuring her face. With slow movements I grabbed her chin softly, her skin smooth and soft, and tilted her head to look up at me. Her turquoise eyes met my blue. Even in the darkness I could tell she was beautiful. "Is there any last words?" I asked quietly. My voice breaking the spell of silence that had fallen over us. The corner of her mouth twitched lightly. The only recognition that she had heard me. A lone tear escaped from her eyes, which were now lined with glinting silver. The tear traced a moonlit trail down her face.

"I wish that you would stop the killing. This isn't right." She breathed, the plea evident in her eyes.

"We do what we need to in order to survive." I replied and looked up to my partner who was standing behind the woman. I nodded to him.

Gor was a huge man. He stood at least two full heads taller than me. Visible muscles showed on his arms, leaving no imagination on how strong the mage was. He had a head of short-cropped red hair and stone-cold green eyes.

"Is that everything you have to say?" I repeated.

"I'm not stupid, there's nothing I could say that would spare my life." Her soft voice was full of conviction, yet it still wavered slightly.

I nodded, brushing a hand lightly against the tear track on her left cheek. The moisture froze, leaving a trail of white frost that crept up to the bottom of her eyelid. "Okay Gor."

The large man nodded and knelt down on his knees. As it was, the woman was too short for him to bend over and reach her. He put one hand under her jaw. Right where the carotid artery was located. "Rupture." He rumbled and the woman gasped in surprise, her eyes going wide as a large purple bruise began to grow on her neck. Slowly getting bigger as she internally bled from the ruptured artery. She let out a strained breath, and fell forward. She hit the dark oak floor with a dull thud. Her beautiful blonde hair falling around her in a wave. I waited for a moment. But the woman was still as stone. I stood up swiftly, my cloak rustling a bit as it rubbed against the wooden floor. The only sound in the room other than Gor's rough breathing.

"Another job done." I commented, tapping my boot into the small pool of blood that was beginning to form. I watched in silence as frost began to snake across the crimson pool. Hopefully it would make a minimal mess.

"Indeed." Gor remarked, clasping a muscled hand on my shoulder. Gor was one of the only friends I had. But I usually only saw him as an associate. He was too ruthless for my taste. Even if we were part of a dark guild.

"We should probably go," I observed, my voice smooth as I stepped out of the room carefully. Making sure not to disturb too much. I could hear voices from outside. It was likely that they heard the commotion and were coming to see what was going on. It was most likely authorities. They were good, but we were better.

I hit my boot on the edge of a night stand, dislodging the rest of the bloody ice that was there. The small shards crunching under my boot.

"Ready for a fight?" Gor sneered, everything human about his features vanishing as he slid into a killing calm.

"Always.

"Neil! Gor! How did the mission go?" I looked up at Midnight Stone's guildmaster. And my adopted father. As he leaned back in his office chair. I stepped into the office, the sounds of laughter abruptly cut off as Gor stepped in behind me and shut the door.

"It was fine, dad." I could barely detain the disgust that rippled through my body at the word. Hunter, the guildmaster. Was not my real father, and he never would be.

"Ah, why should I even ask! You two have never failed a mission for me yet! This one was probably a cake walk for you guys, how hard could killing a pregnant woman for a spiteful husband be?"

I felt my hands clench as my mind flicked back a few hours prior. To the woman on the floor. "She was pregnant?" I asked coldly. Me and the Master rarely got along.

Hunter nodded and a wicked smile appeared on his face, "Well. She was. The husband didn't believe the child was his. Yet she refused to let the child go. Seems you killed two birds with one stone."

"So we took the life of a child that wasn't even born because they weren't wanted? Is that what you are telling me."

I could swear that my adopted fathers smile got even wider, "Yes, son, is there a problem with that? I thought that you didn't mind the prospect of killing any longer. After all, you have killed for me since you were a little boy." He placed both of his hands onto his desk and leaned farther forward. "Or did I hit a weak spot? Because you are just as unwanted as the child?:

Gor glanced at the two of us, he must have realized where this conversation was going because he mumbled something incoherent and exited the office.

"This was all planned by you, wasn't it? So you could test how far your 'pride and joy's' unwavering loyalty would stretch?" I hissed, anger beginning to course through me like a wildfire.

"Oh, whatever do you mean, boy? You would never go against the wishes of your father, would you?

I growled lowly. "Lets get one thing straight, Hunter," I spat out his name, "You are _not_ my father, and you sure as _hell_ never will be." With that I exited through the door, slamming it shut so hard behind me I was surprised it didn't shatter. Even with all the thoughts coursing through my head. I could swear that I could hear his laughter echoing through the hallways as I made my way hastily to the room that I shared with Gor.

"That fucking _bastard!_ " I roared. Punching the dirt wall of our room. The packed dirt crumbled around my hand and began to form a pile around shoes. Frustratedly, I wrenched my lightly cut and extremely dirty hand from the wall. My anger not yet subsided, I began to pace.

Gor sighed and glanced up from the dirt caked cot that he was laying down on. Hands behind his head to act as an improvised pillow. "Neil, calm the hell down, I just fixed that fuckin wall last week. I don't need you going and wrecking it again."

His words well on deaf ears as my hand began to become enveloped in ice. I cocked my arm back. Preparing to strike the innocent wall again. "I just can't believe that he tricked me like that... How could I even refer to him as my father?"

I was about to punch the wall again, but the ice around my hand shattered. "Look, Neil, you really need to calm down and think about what you are doing. How is trashing our place going to fix anything?"

I narrowed my eyes at Gor but let my arm fall limp at my side. "I just don't know why he would do that to me. He knows that I just can't bring myself to hurt a child. So instead he sends us on a contract to kill a mark that is pregnant with an unborn fetus. I just can't even begin to express the hatred that I am feeling for him right now." My face scrunched up and my hands balled into fists at the mere thought of the master.

The Rupture Mage put a hand on my shoulder, Gor wasn't the best with showing emotions, being a ruthless killer and all but at least he tried. "Why don't you challenge him to a duel? It will be a great way to let out some pent up frustration on him and you might get to kick his ass in the process."

I couldn't hold back the smile that appeared on my face at the mere mention of dueling Hunter, thoughts of beating him to a pulp began to float around in my head. I turned around and held up my fist. "You're the best, you know that Gor?"

He smiled and connected his fist with mine, "I try"

I glanced at my smiling face in the mirror, Hunter had agreed fairly quickly that a fight was the best way to settle the dispute between us. Stating that maybe beating my ass would get me to show some respect. My smile reflected in my ice-blue eyes and I ran a hand through my short-cut dark blue hair. Both my hair and eyes stood out a lot against my pale-white skin, along with the all-black attire that I wore. My facial features are rather soft for being a cold-blooded killer and a single scar ran along my left cheekbone and angled down to the left corner of my lip. I nodded at myself in the mirror as assurance from myself that I would beat Hunter and turned on my heel to go out into the practice arena. The practice arena was the only area in the hollowed out mountain that I have came to call home that had any kind of support, the walls were made of a tough concrete that was reinforced heavily with steel beams, and probably magic. I don't believe that any of the guild members would have liked to have a cave-in while they were sparring. I know I wouldn't have. The room was lit as most of the mountain was, from braziers lining the walls, fires crackling inside. I began to scan the sides of the room and was surprised to see that practically the entire guild, along with other, less savory folk. Midnight Stone was made up of thirty mages. No more, no less. With such small numbers we were all powerful in our own right. As such, we had plenty of room in the mountain to house all things illegal. Black markets, fighting rings, slave trade. I scanned the faces of the people gathered. Many of them I had never seen before. I locked eyes with Gor, who gave me a nod. My friend Snow standing beside him.

Gor, was wearing his usual attire of a red t-shirt and baggy jeans. His red hair was spiked up with some sort of hair cosmetic. And his green eyes for once were glowing with mirth.

My eyes fell on Snow, whose beauty was unparalleled. True to her name she wore a white shirt and white shorts. A large white cloak was fastened around her shoulders. Her long white hair was left untamed, falling down her back like a blizzard. Her gray eyes fastened onto mine and she smiled sweetly. Not even a scar marred her impossibly beautiful face.

"So, you didn't run off."

I narrowed my eyes at Hunter who stood across the room from me, his black eyes void of all expression and a ghost of a smile etched onto his wrinkling face. "You must be getting senile old man. If you don't recall, it was me who challenged you to a fight."

With my statement his smile only grew wider, "Oh I never doubted you, boy. I was just... Testing the waters."

I bit my tongue so hard blood began to fill my mouth. The man really knew how to get under my skin. "Enough chit-chat," I balled my hands into fists and began to shroud them in a icy mist, "Why don't we talk with our fists."

He let out a small chuckle, "I thought you would never ask." He raised both of his arms out to his sides, his purple cloak shifting to show arms wrapped in bandages. He pointed his index fingers out and purple magic circles materialized on the tip of each finger. He brought them together in front of him with lightning speed to create a two-layered magic circle. " **Amaterasu Formula 30: Destruction Tower** "

A luminous-purple magic circle appeared under me. Illuminating my dark appearance. _'Shit! There isn't a way I will be able to dodge this..'_ I put my two hands together and jumped as high as I was able into the air. I felt my magic begin to course through me as I shouted, " **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Formless Oedon, Ice Globe!** " The Lost Magic appeared around me, wrapping me in an icy blue cocoon. The spell was my ultimate defense. Unbreakable. Mere moments after, Hunter's Amaterasu spell activated and a pillar of purple destruction magic erupted from the magic circle beneath me, bathing me in its deadly light. Once the pillar of purple light vanished I cut off the supply of magic power to my Globe. It dispelled and I dropped to the ground, instantly bursting forward with inhuman speed. " **Ice Dragon Fist**!" I hollered and my ice-coated fist connected with the face of my adopted father, which sent him hurtling through the air, and crashing into the far wall. I felt a smile creep up my face as a gasp went up from the crowd.

"Heh, nice shot, kid." Hunter mused calmly as he pulled himself from the wall and brushed off some dust that had gathered on his cloak. Despite a small trickle of blood that ran from his forehead, he was unscathed. "But you are going to have to do much, much better than that."

He put a hand forward but I was on him in an instant. " **Ice Dragon Fang**!" Twin spikes of ice grew from both of my forearms and I pierced his right shoulder with both of them. The thin, needle like projections easily shredding the cloth. And pumped his arm full of my magic power.

"Nice try, boy, but again you failed to do any real damage to me." He attempted to lift up his right arm to cast a magic circle but failed. "What the hell?" He grabbed his arm and tried to move it but it stayed in one place, "What the fuck did you do to me, Neil?" He screamed and tried in vain to move his arm.

I smirked and sauntered up to the now struggling mage. "I can pump magic energy into that attack to make the spikes emit sub zero temperatures, in doing that I was able to effectively freeze your arm solid. Try all you want, but you wont be able to move it." I grabbed his collar and pulled him towards me. "Guess that means I win, huh?" I grinned and let go of him. I turned around and flashed a smile to the onlookers. Some began to lift their hands to clap but then froze in their movement, all of their eyes shifting to look behind me. Curiously I slowly turned back around to face the guild master and came face to face with that bastards wide, shit eating grin.

"No. You lose," He laughed manically and placed his unfrozen arm on my chest then kicked me back. "Never celebrate your victory until your opponent is on the ground. Either dead or unconcious. Only then should you turn your back."

I glanced down at my chest only to see a purple magic circle clearly presented in the middle of it, "Oh _shit_." I cursed.

Hunter never lost the smile on his face as he snapped his fingers, " **Amaterasu Formula 88** "

I was only able to let out a slight whimper of fear as my chest was absorbed by immense pain and the magic circle exploded in blinding purple light.

 **A/N**

 **I am currently in the process of revising the earlier chapters of this story, bringing them up to par with my current writing. So sorry about the drop in quality. I will delete this when I am finished.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **A/N**

 **Hello everyone! Sunwing here and I am back to bring you the next chapter in Shrouded by Darkness! An important thing that I forgot to mention in the last chapter will be that I don't have a solid update schedule since it is summer break. My updates will most likely be sporadic but probably won't take longer than a week to get out. Hell, if I am feeling up to it there may even be chapters posted the day after the previous one. It just all depends on what my motivational state is at the time, haha. BUT after seeing that I had fifty some odd views in a single day along with three follows and faves. I almost had a heart attack and quickly finished up my second chapter(It was already half done)! The editing might be a little shoddy because I am exhausted but just let me know and I will fix it right away! Anyway enough keeping you... Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Ooh almost forgot, thanks to jeremyforstner for the kind words as well!**

* * *

I cracked open my eyes, my gaze a little foggy from just waking up so I blinked a couple times to try and clear up my view. I tried to lift my right arm to rub at my eyes but when I tried to move it I felt a weight on it. I glanced over to see Snow laying on the cot beside me. As I saw her the memories of what took place last night began to come back to me and my cheeks flushed at the beautiful young woman that was sleeping beside me. Snow's platinum blond hair cascaded around her face and hut most of her face, yet it gave her a serene look. I gently moved some of her hair away from her sleeping face and tucked it behind her ear. She shifted in her sleep slightly and a small smile was formed by her lips. I took a long look at her peaceful face and then forced myself to look away. _'Dammit, what am I thinking? I can't be with Snow... Hunter would kill her if he ever found out.'_ At the thought of my adopted father my hands instinctively balled into fists. _'Why can't anything be easy with that bastard? All he cares about is the strength that I wield... He probably would have killed me had he not found out that I was a Dragon Slayer.'_ I shifted slightly so I could hopefully get into a more comfortable position but a soft sigh and the weight lifting off my shoulder was all the indication that I needed to know that Snow had awoken.

"Goodmorning, Neil." she slurred as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Morning Snow, how did you sleep?" I replied, the room beginning to feel a few degrees colder now that Snow's body heat abruptly vanished from my side.

She smiled slightly at me and lay her head back down on my arm, letting out a content sigh. "Excellent, one of the best sleeps I have had in quite a long while."

"That's good," I mumbled, trying to avoid direct eye contact with the platinum blonde.

"Mmhm," she replied and moved some of her loose bangs away from her eyes. "So, how are you feeling?" she asked, gently laying a hand on my bandaged stomach.

I flushed lightly at Snow's touch but otherwise kept a straight face. "A little better, pain feels like it's subsiding so I should be ready to go in a couple of days."

"I still can't believe that a father would do that to their son. It even looked like he was enjoying putting you through so much pain."

I waved off her comment like it was nothing. "It's fine. I bet he was enjoying it, after all I did piss him off. He thinks that he can control me through fear, and while I will admit that it works sometimes... I can't help but question his motives. Wonder what his ultimate goal is in all of this."

"Well, Midnight Stone is part of the Barem Alliance. Correct?"

I nodded as I subconsciously lifted a hand to the right side of my neck where the guilds insignia was located. A midnight black stone that seemed to swallow all the light around it. "Yes, we are."

"Maybe Master Hunter want's to control the world as well. Maybe he wants the people of Fiore to bow in fear before him."

I closed my eyes in thought. It was definitely plausible, Hunter was just the right type of evil to want to rule the world at the side of Brain and Hades. Along with Tartarus, although they were a different bunch. "That could be the case. I wouldn't put it past him."

She nodded and then stood up, after smoothing out the wrinkles in her clothes she gave me a nod. "Well, I had better go. You should get some rest." She smiled and then exited the room.

I watched her leave and then shifted a little on the cot in a vain attempt to get in a more comfortable position without disturbing the wound on my stomach. After getting in a relatively comfortable position and the pain in my chest had subsided I slowly closed my eyes and drifted off into a restless sleep.

* * *

" _Neil! It's time for you to turn in for the night!" My mother, and teacher, Glace called out to me. Glace is all white, with the exception of some of her scales being colored a light gray giving her a more surreal look. Her eyes are an ocean blue that seem to radiate kindness. The female Ice Dragon boasted a very long tail that ends in a spike, although I had never seen her use it for anything. She has large spines that ran along the length of her body from the base of her neck to a few inches off from the end of her tail. Glace had told me that Ice Dragons were rather small compared to other dragons so they had adapted to have a more impressive armament at their disposal rather than just magic. But since there was no war between the dragons; she had no reason to use them._

 _I turned around from where I was been sitting at the edge of a creek, turning away from watching a fish swim around in the water. "Alright, mother!" I called back to the Ice Dragon as I began to sprint in the direction of the cave that we both called home._

 _There was a small chuckle from Glace as she got up from where she had been laying down, "You have too much energy for your own good, little one."_

" _Well it's your fault for not training me today then! Although I am glad that you gave me the day off today..."_

" _Well, it seems that I will just have to train you extra hard tomorrow then to get rid of your excess energy, won't I?" She made a small 'hmm' sound and was able to quickly catch up to me with her large strides._

" _I guess you will, won't you? Will you be able to teach me any new magic?" I asked, excited at the prospect of learning more of the Lost Magic._

 _She shook her head slightly, "No, little one. I have taught you all that I know."_

 _I hung my head a little as my hopes were crushed, we had by now reached the den and I was settling down to sleep when Glace wrapped her large, warm body around me. "Hey, mom, what are you doing?"_

" _What, is there something wrong with a mother wanting to sleep with their child?" She asked, a hint of laughter in her soft voice._

" _No, I guess there isn't." I replied and shifted to a comfortable position, the body heat that Glace was giving off quickly warming me up and I gave off a small sigh. "Hey, mom?"_

" _Yes?" She responded, her voice beginning to sound tired._

" _Are you ever going to... Abandon me? Like my real parents did?"_

 _There was a small pause then she lifted her head to look me in the eyes. Her icy blue globes seemingly burrowing into my soul. "No, I would never think of ever doing that." There was another pause, "But just know, that if I ever did leave you that it was for a good reason and I would miss you every second that I was away."_

 _I responded with a wide smile and leaned back against her belly, "Well, that's good to know._

 _Goodnight, mom."_

" _Goodnight, little one." I could almost swear that I heard a hint of sadness in her voice but I was much too tired to think too much on it. I let out a small yawn and drifted off to sleep. Not knowing that it was the last night I would ever be spending with my mother._

* * *

I awoke and immediately sat up, "Glace!" I shouted to the empty room, I was about to look around for the familiar white and gray scales when the pain in my chest began to push through my sleep addled mind and forced me back down to a laying position. As I began to come back to reality I let out a long sigh as unshed tears began to sting my eyes. "That must have been a memory." I thought out loud and tried to recall the whole event.

"Bad dream?"

I glanced over at the doorway to see Snow standing there, a tray of what I believed to be food in her hands. "No, it was a memory."

Snow walked over to the cot and set the tray of food down on the table next to it. "Care to elaborate? Because the sweat covering your body and the fact that you looked like you were about to burst into tears for a few seconds there says otherwise."

"It was the night before Glace left me."

She put a hand up to her mouth, "I-I'm sorry, Neil I didn't think that's what you meant when it was a memory. I'm sorry for prying."

I waved it off, "It's fine. Don't think anything by it. It's not really the most painful memory that I have... It's just hard to take in sometimes." I sighed and looked over at the tray of food. It looked like steak, most likely overcooked like it always is. But despite the fact I found my mouth began to water and my stomach rumbled, I hadn't realized how hungry I really was. I sat up slowly and then shimmied backwards so I could rest my back against the wall and grabbed the tray. "It's funny though. That night she told me that she would never abandon me, yet she also added that if she ever did it was for a good reason and that she would miss me every second that she was gone... I would like to believe that she was telling the truth that night because I find myself thinking about her everyday."

Snow put a comforting hand on my shoulder and gave me a weak smile. "I'm sure she is, I bet there isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't think about you either."

I returned her smile and began to eat. The meat was tough and bland as usual. But it was food so I wasn't complaining. Snow stayed silent and went to sit down while I ate and stared at the adjacent wall, as if in deep thought. The only sound that broke the silence in the room was my fork clinking against the metal of the plate. As I swallowed my last bite I gently set the tray back down on the table and looked over at Snow who was still in deep thought. "So, any new jobs come in that I should know about?"

"No, we haven't got anything new the last couple of days. It's been rather slow running."

I put a hand under my chin, "Well, I guess it means that people are getting along. If they don't need to contact any Dark Guilds."

The Ice God Slayer mumbled something incoherent but since she didn't reply after that so I assumed that it was an agreement.

"How are the other guilds in the Barem Alliance doing? Got any dirt on them?"

"Well, I overheard Master Hunter mention something about the Oración Seis over lunch today, it's what I have been thinking about. He apparently want's to have me, you and Gor to help them with an assignment so that they don't fail."

"Oh? What would this assignment be?"

"The Oración Seis wants to take over Nirvana, Neil. They want to destroy all of the Light Guilds using it's destructive power so we have no opposition."

I was taken aback by her statement. "Nirvana? They want to awaken that thing? I can't even begin to comprehend why they would want it and why the Oración Seis wants Midnight Stone. Of all guilds they could have picked. To help them with it. Our relationship with them has been absolutely horrendous these past few years."

"That may be why Master Hunter want's us to go. We are the three strongest members in the guild, not including himself. He probably wants us to show our power so they respect us as much as they should. That way they won't think of us as just a low-grade, wannabe guild."

"Yea, you could be right. It's just hard to take in. That's all."

"I know, I had better go and find Gor. We can start discussing a strategy on what we are going to do and I'll fill you in on all the finer details later. Sound good?"

I nodded in agreeance, "Yup, as long as you don't leave me out on anything important I should be fine."

She nodded and exited the room, I watched her leave, then waited for the door to close before I went back to laying down. _'So, the_ _Oración_ _Seis wants Nirvana, huh? I can't let that happen... What would Glace say if she saw me now? Would she hate me because I went against all her teachings and kill with my magic? Or would she just straight up tell me that I'm not her son?'_ I looked over at the tray that Snow had forgot to take with her when she left to go talk to Gor. _'I can't do it anymore. I don't want to kill anymore.'_ I steeled my face. _'But.. I have to. Although he isn't the best; Hunter is still technically my father. I can't go against his wishes with something as big as this is.'_

The door creaked open and I looked up to see who it was, hoping that it was Snow coming back. There was a flash of purple cloth and my adopted father walked in. "Hello, boy. Sorry, but it's me visiting you this time and not Snow." He must have saw right through me... Crafty bastard. "But I have come to talk to you about your next assignment. It is an important one and it will be the turning point for our guild so I need you to do as I say. I have already briefed Snow and Gor on the situation."

I nodded, I knew what he was about to tell me so I decided to play the innocent game with him.

"I need you to help the Oración Seis seize the weapon known as Nirvana."

"Okay, should be easy enough. Help them get Nirvana and kill any pesky Light Guilds while we are there, right?"

He held up his hand to signify that he had more to say. "Yes, but that is not all. Once they are in possession of Nirvana, I need you three to take possession of Nirvana. Then eliminate the Oración Seis.

* * *

"I hope he knows he is sending us on a suicide mission. How are we going to take out six of the most powerful dark wizards in Fiore with just the three of us? I think that Hunter is getting too old for the job, he must be losing his marbles if he thinks we can pull it off."

"Relax, Neil. They will probably send some of the Light Guilds to attempt to stop them, we help the Oración Seis. They get battered, bruised and beaten by them. Then we swoop in; take out the stragglers and Nirvana is ours! The plan is fool proof!" Gor laughed as I drummed my fingers at the table we were sat. My wound had fully healed a couple days ago and, surprisingly Hunter apologized for going so overboard with injuring me.

"Yea, but I can't help but feel that we are missing something with the picture. The magic council is sure to come after us with their Rune Knights and it will be exceedingly hard to fend them off since the three of us will be so magically exhausted. There is also another important question. What is my father planning to do with the power of Nirvana? I asked him multiple times but he has refused to give me an answer. I don't know what he is planning but whatever it is, I doubt that it's going to be all sunshine and rainbows.

"There is also another thing." Snow added, "Nirvana has the power to turn light to darkness and vice-versa. It is said that anyone wavering on the in between will be switched. So if one of us is having second thoughts about being in a Dark Guild then we will be switched to the light. Make sense?"

I nodded, "Yes, so we all need to clear our minds. We can't have anything shrouding them." I couldn't help but notice that Snow had her eyes on me the whole time she was explaining. _'Is she trying to tell me something? Or does she suspect that I was thinking of defecting?'_ I flashed her a quick smile and, although it didn't reach my eyes. She returned the smile as well and she finally removed her calculating gaze from me. "So, we have our plan then?"

"Help the Oración Seis, Kill the Oración Seis, capture Nirvana and kick some ass. How hard could it be?" Gor replied, easily summing up our plan.

"Oh, trust me. You're making it sound easy. There is so many things that could go wrong in this plan; factors that we may have missed. I don't doubt our capability. But we are going to have a hell of a time pulling it off... But I guess if my father thought that we could do it then we had better try our best." I stood up and began to walk from the room _'Or die trying'_ I finished in my mind and made my way to Hunters office.

* * *

I stood outside the door to my father's office. Slowly lifting my hand to knock I rapped on the door twice.

From inside there was a muffled. "You can enter."

I opened the door and stepped inside the room, it looked almost the same as before with the exception of papers on my adopted fathers desk and seemingly a thin layer of dust covering almost every surface. Hunter sat at his chair behind the big office desk that sat in the middle of his room. A paper in his hand that he was reading. "Hey, dad. Could I talk with you?"

"If it's about Nirvana the answer is a no. You don't need to know what I plan to do with it and you won't until it is in your possession. Do I make myself clear?" He growled.

"Yes, crystal. But that wasn't what I came here to talk about."

His eyebrows lifted slightly and he motioned for me to take a seat. "Well, sit down then. It had better be good because I have job papers that I need to sign and get on the board today."

I pulled the rickety wooden chair from under the desk and sat down in it. The old chair let out a squeak in protest but held my weight without collapsing. "I was just wondering, dad. Why did you take me in seven years ago?"

He sighed and put down the paper that he was reading. "Why does this come up now; if I may ask?"

"Because, there is a very big chance that I may very well die on the mission that you are about to send me on so I need to know. If I do die it has to be with no regrets in my life."

Hus gaze searched my face for a long moment. Then he let out a sigh through his nose and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Well, I guess I had better explain by going back to the day that I found you.

* * *

" _H-how could you kill that girl?" A young Neil cried as Hunter stood over the corpse of a now dead woman._

" _Because, child." Hunter answered and knelt down so he could be at eye level with Neil. "She was a bad girl, who did bad things and she deserved to die because of them."_

" _So, you are like a hero then, right?"_

 _Hunter smiled at the young boys comment, in his heart he knew that he was no hero and only killed the young woman so he could make some money for his guild that was coming up on a hard time. But the child didn't need to know that. "Where are your parents, boy? You should really get back to them, it's getting rather late for you to be out on your own."_

 _Neil crossed his arms, "I can take care of myself, besides. The only family that I ever had left me. She never even said goodbye."_

 _Now, Hunter was intrigued. "Oh? Do you know where she went?"_

" _No, do you know where dragons go when they dissapear?"_

 _Hunter resisted the urge to laugh at the young boys comment. "So, your mother is a dragon?"_

 _Neil smiled widely. "Yup! She was an Ice Dragon! She was great! So was so big and strong and kind! She even taught me how to use Dragon Slayer Magic!" The young boy flashed Hunter a toothy grin "I'll show you!" Neil began to suck in a lot of air, filling up his small lungs in preparation for his attack. **"Ice Dragon... ROAR** " The small boy bellowed as a tornado of Ice Dragon magic and ice shards rocketed towards the unfortunate tree. _

_Hunter couldn't hide the grin that began to form on his face as the tree was covered in ice, wood splinters flying off in all directions. ."Say, since you don't have a family. Would you like to join my guild?"_

 _The boy's face lit up. "Really? You would do that for me?"_

 _Hunter nodded, "Of course, boy. Now, as I said. It is getting dark and we should really be getting back home._

* * *

I couldn't stop from growling in disgust. "I knew it, this whole time you only took me in because you only saw the power, the raw strength that I wielded and wanted to harness it for your own sick deeds!" I screamed at him and pounded a fist on the desk, cracking it slightly.

"It wasn't only that," Hunter answered silently. "I saw the amount of passion in your eyes and I knew that you would be capable of great things in the future. I did then, and still do now believe that we will be leaders of this world together. We will rule as father and son!"

I stood up from the chair and shook my head at him. "I would never rule by the side of a liar. Especially not one like you." I whirled around and walked through the door, face scrunched up in anger. "That old fool is blinded by power. I actually thought that he cared about me, but it seems that the only thing he really cares about is strength." I slowed down my fast paced walk and looked back at the door to his office. "It's people like you who deserve to burn in the fiery pits of hell, Hunter."

 **A/N**

 **And here we go! These first two chapters was just a lot of the backstory and introducing my main characters. The next chapter things are going to really start kicking off! As with Nirvana, I am going to be loosely basing it from the anime but since there is the induction of another guild and with their plan it won't follow it too much. Thanks for reading! Let me know if this chapter was around the same, better, or worse. And please be sure to notify me of anything I can fix to make it a more enjoyable read!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail or its characters._

 **Hello everyone! I would like to thank those that followed and favorited the story as it keeps me motivated and means a lot to me so thank you so much!**

 **Thanks to Jeremyforstner, Fenris Korvir and coally34 for the reviews!**

* * *

I let out a loud groan and cradled my head in my hands, rubbing at my eyes in a vain attempt to try and wake myself up.

"Seriously, Neil. You need to get to bed earlier or something. Can't have you passing out on us during a mission now can we?"

"Yea, sorry Snow. I just... Had a long night last night... Had a hard time getting any sleep."

"Well you had better wake up in the next hour. The tournament is today and it would be nice if you could win again this year."

"Wait, _today_? It hasn't even been a month yet! Hell, we only have _three_ days till we have to go and seize Nirvana! We still have so much to do until then!" I was wide awake now. The sleep that had been clouding my mind quickly being replaced by anger. Every month Hunter would schedule a tournament in our guild to see who the three most strongest members were. The tournament consisted of twelve members who had shown their prowess and skill in combat one way or another. The three members who won would be sent on jobs that were a lot harder than the average ones that we normally get. Gor, Snow and I were the three to win the tournament last month, making us three the prime candidates for the mission of capturing Nirvana.

"Yea, maybe he suspects something about us three, he may be old. But he is very perceptive."

I nodded in agreement, "So, where is the tournament board?"

Snow pointed to the far side of the lunchroom, so I muttered a quick farewell and went to study the pairings. Each member was randomly paired up in a fight against a random opponent. So I wasn't too worried about getting into a battle with Snow or Gor right at the start. I knew that they would both win their fights, however. So I may have to fight them in the semi finals. I looked at the piece of paper posted and began to read aloud. "Huh, it seems that my first fight will be against the Genie Brothers. Jinn and Djinn. The two are practically inseparable so it's not a surprise that they got counted as one person." The two brothers both used air magic. Jinn being able to vanish into the air and Djinn being the brawn of the two. The two were very secretive and didn't speak much to anybody so the chance of getting some important info on the two was extremely slim. The two first arrived at the guild a few years ago, battered and beaten half to death so Hunter. Seeing something in the two. Decided to take them into the guild. Since then the two were still extremely guarded and extremely hostile to everybody but themselves, always taking the hardest jobs they could get their hands on. They would definitely be tough customers.

"I'm paired against Scout for my first match."

I jumped slightly at Snow's sudden appearance, blushing lightly because she had probably noticed me jump. "Dammit, Snow. Why do you always sneak up on me like that?"

She chuckled lightly and put her hands into the pockets of her coat. "Well, I usually don't mean to do it. I guess I just have a habit of catching you when your guard is down." She sniffed.

I sighed lightly and crossed my arms. "Scout, huh? That should be a fun fight for you. Little bastard's been trying to get in your pants ever since he joined the guild."

She grinned widely at the thought, "Yea, it should be pretty interesting to say the least. Anyway, I had better get going. Tournament should be starting soon so make sure you are in the arena when it starts. I believe that you have the first fight." She gave me a small nod in farewell and exited the room.

* * *

I sauntered into the practice arena and began to scan all of the candidates gathered there. I knew the face of most of the people gathered, yet the names escaped me. After analyzing the people gathered my eyes fell on Djinn. Who was, to my surprise, standing alone. Jinn was nowhere in sight. I narrowed my enhanced eyes at Djinn and saw a small distortion standing next to him. _'Hm, little bastard must be hiding'_ I was about go and confront Djinn about it but Hunter began to speak.

"Well, it seems like everyone is gathered. So it's time to announce the first fight in the tournament!" Hunter announced as the contestants and onlookers cheered. "The first fight of the day will be Neil versus the Genie Brothers; Djinn and Jinn!"

I smirked and walked into the middle of the arena, for these kind of events we would erect a magical barrier around the field, showing the boundaries and making it so we could use the full force of our magic and not worry about injuring any onlookers, as well as to prevent most of the rougher collisions that would have happened from slamming too hard into the concrete wall. Although most of the guild wouldn't of had a second thought about killing some of the guild anyway. I reached my side of the field and turned on my heel to face Djinn.

Djinn was wearing a baggy blue t-shirt with dark blue jeans, his head was shaved bald and his eyes glowed a vibrant green. Djinn was fairly well built as he was the brawn of the two brothers and it was definitely visible by the skin that showed on his dark brown arms.

"Hey, Djinn! Where's your brother? I thought that you two were inseparable?" I taunted, trying to buy into the ruse that they had set up.

Djinn grinned widely at me and answered in an airy voice, "Oh, I don't know where he could be. Half the time he could be right beside me and I would never even know it." He let out a small laugh, "He's like a ghost, isn't he?"

As we talked Hunter came into the ring to stand between us, both of his arms raised to the side. "Alright, remember there is no rules to the fight. Just try to refrain from killing one another, it would be quite bad to lose some of my strongest." His arms fell down to his sides and I wasted no time on rushing forwards to meet my enemy head on.

 **"Ice Dragon Fist!"** I announced and threw my fist at Djinn. The air mage smirked and raised his arm up.

 **"Air Jail!"** He retaliated and I was immediately suspended mid punch. He lowered his hand and stalked up to me. "Seriously Neil. I know aggressiveness is in your nature but rushing an Air Mage is just plain _stupid_." Djinn laughed and punched me in the gut. I groaned as he knocked the wind out of me.

"Dammit Djinn, where's the honor in taking advantage of me in this state?"

"Hm, I didn't know that this guild even had a lick of honor." He replied and smashed a fist into the side of my jaw which sent me into the ground a couple feet away.

I let out a low growl and spat out some blood that had began to accumulate in my mouth. I slammed my fist into the ground and stood back up. A small cut on the side of my jaw from where Djinn had it me. "You're a real bastard, you know that?"

"Oh, trust me. I know." He said and raised an arm in my direction. **"Air Slicer!"** He shouted and a blast of condensed air shot from his hand and rocketed towards me.

In retaliation I sucked in a deep breath and raised both of my hands to my mouth, making a funnel. **"Ice Dragon... Roar!"** A magic circle appeared in front of my face and a blast of Slayer magic and ice shards shot from my mouth. Meeting Djinn's attack head-on and easily overcoming it. The attack hit the surprised Air Mage squarely and sent him shooting back into the magic barrier which in response flared a vibrant purple and shot him back towards the middle of the arena. And straight back at me. I grabbed Djinn by his arm and using the momentum that he had gained I slammed him into the ground at my feet, not skipping a beat I then tossed him across the arena, he bounced a couple times one the ground before finally rolling to a stop. The whole exchange taking place in less that six seconds. _'Come on, where are ya...'_ I thought as I began to look around the arena for the distortion that signaled where Jinn was.

 **"Air Crush!"** I heard from behind me, twirling around with lightning speed I only saw the distorted fist of Jinn before it hit me square in the nose, breaking it. The force from the blow took me off my feet so I dug a hand into the ground and spun myself back around. **"Ice Dragon RoUGH"** I was cut off as I got kicked in the stomach, my body instinctively buckling in on itself and before I could recover I was picked up by the collar of my shirt and tossed into the purple barrier. _'Shit'_ I thought as a sharp pain lanced through my back. I glanced up to see Djinn and Jinn standing next to each other. A Cheshire grin plastered on each of their faces.

 **"Air Crush!"**

 **"Air Pummel!"**

A fist hit me in the gut, winding me. I tried to spin in the air to avoid the second attack when I got hit five times in quick succession. Fighting through the pain that shot through my body I grabbed onto the body of one of the Air Mages, and using my momentum heaved them into the ground with me. I groaned audibly, the taste of copper filling my mouth, blood dropping onto the dirt from my bleeding nose. I rolled onto my stomach and stood up on my weak legs, spitting out blood. Djinn lay on the ground at my feet, unconscious. I lowered my gaze at Jinn. "That all you got?" I taunted and wiped some blood from my mouth, lowering myself into a fighting stance.

Jinn fixed me with a wide-eyed gaze. "How the hell are you still standing?" He asked in disbelief.

"It's hard to put down a Dragon." I responded and smashed my fists together, frost beginning to accumulate on my fists. "Now, are we going to finish this?"

Jinn responded by disappearing, I began to track the distortion that was made by his magic, not letting my gaze linger to long in case he noticed that I knew where he was.

 **"Air Slicer!"**

My eyes widened slightly as I looked over my shoulder at the now conscious Djinn. A huge gash on his head was bleeding and his teeth bared, showing elongated canines. I wasn't able to move out of the way fast enough so his attack hit me head on. Shallow cuts began to cover the length of my body as I let out a scream from the pain. After what seemed like an eternity yet was only about six seconds the pain finally stopped and I dropped to one knee.

"Stay down, _runt,_ " Djinn hissed as Jinn materialized next to him. I looked down at my body to see it littered with a plethora of cuts. My black clothing ripped beyond belief. I groaned in pain and stood up slowly. My hair shadowing my eyes and hiding them from view. I looked up at the two and fixed them with a death glare, and despite the protests of my aching body, lowered myself into a stance.

"I will not be beaten by the likes of you." I snarled and began to let my magic power leak into the air around me. Freezing the ground and the air. I balled both of my hands into fists and brought them to my right side, keeping a small gap between them where a small ball of condensed ice formed. "I guess you two aren't going to go down easy. So I'm going to hold _nothing_ back." I growled, **"Dragon Slayer Secret Art."** I chanted, the freezing air that was around me began to start orbiting my body. The ground beginning to freeze in a spider web pattern and the entire arena dropped a few degrees. **"Formless Oedon: Maelstrom!"** I screamed and pointed the sphere of ice at the two twins. A gigantic blast, similar to one of my breath attacks erupted from the sphere of ice. Yet the power difference was easily identifiable as it was almost triple the size of my Roar and seemed to swallow up most of the light in the room. The magic rocketed towards the brothers and enveloped them in a swirling tornado of ice. The screams of the two bringing a slight smile to my serious face. After a few seconds I cut off the magic power from the attack before it drained me too much and dropped to my knees. _'If that didn't put them down. I'm so fucked.'_ I thought as the dust that was kicked up from the blast began to dissipate. I squinted my eyes to the the silhouette of two figures. Yet both of them were still standing. "Holy fuck." I swore and tried to stand back up but to no avail. The dust cleared more to show that portions of their bodies were frozen solid, huge gashes littering their bodies. Djinn was the first to collapse to the ground, Jinn following soon after.

"Such... Power." Jinn groaned as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"I agree brother, maybe we shouldn't have been so full of ourselves. The Dragon is stronger than he looks." Djinn replied before he two was rendered unconscious.

The magic barrier dissipated and I was finally able to hear the roar of the cheering crowd. ' _hmm, I never knew that the barrier blocked out sound from the outside.'_ I thought as Snow rushed towards me, capturing me in a bone crushing hug. Much to the protest of my weak body.

"You. Were. Amazing!" She squealed. Then, to my embarrassment and surprise picked me up off of the ground and twirled me around.

"Ah, Snow. Your going a little too overboard. I'm still really sore!" I groaned and she set me down. She began to carefully inspect all of the cuts that littered my body.

"Well, at least they aren't that bad. But it still wouldn't hurt to get them wrapped up.

I shook my head, "No, I still have one more fight today and bandages would only hinder me. Besides. I bet they would look pretty cool as scars." I said while slowly lowering myself to the ground, my legs refusing to hold me up any longer than they absolutely had to. I gingerly touched a couple of the shallow cuts, the bleeding had long since stopped so they weren't too much to worry about any longer. "Damn, now I remember why I never use that attack, it takes up way too much magic energy to use in a fight."

Snow knelt down in front of me and smiled, "Well, you did good. I knew that you would win." She ruffled my hair and helped me stand back up, she put my arm around her shoulders to help support my weight and walked me over to the sidelines so I could sit against a wall to rest my battered and beaten body. "I honestly thought that you were done when they hit you with that combo, it looked like you were out for the count."

"Heh, you know i'm stronger than that Snow. I don't give up in a fight that easily." I laughed halfheartedly.

She fixed me with a quizzical gaze but after a few seconds she gave me a Cheshire grin and slapped me on the back. "Well! My fights next! Wish me luck!" She twirled on her heel, her pure white coat billowing around her.

I watched as Snow walked into the arena. Scout following soon after. The purple glow of the magic barrier popped up. Signalling the start to the fight.

"Ah! Snow! It hurts that we are adversaries in this tournament today! I don't believe I would be able to bring myself to wreck that beautiful face of yours!" Scout cried and held a hand to his chest.

"Y'know," She said, raising her fists into the air, adopting a battle ready stance and flicking a stray strand of hair over her shoulder. "You are one messed up mother fucker. I hope you know that."

Scout adopted a hurt look on his face and held a hand up to his forehead in mock hurt. "Your words cut deep, my dear! Is it because of that Ice Dragon that you spend so much time with? Has he clouded your judgment?"

My face scrunched up in thought as I tried to recall the type of magic that Scout used. _'Hmm, i'm pretty sure that he practices some sort of forbidden magic but I just can't recall what type that is...'_

"You're right, Scout. What do I see in Neil? He's weak." I glanced up to see Snow walking up to Scout in a sultry manner. Making sure to sway her hips.

"Mind Manipulation Magic" Jinn thought out loud as he came to take a seat beside me. His body covered in bandages and bruises. "It's what gives Scout an edge in his fights."

I grunted a confirmation, not taking much notice of Jinn as Snow had just reached Scout and she cupped his face with a hand. "I have been wanting to do this for such a long time." She said and began to lean towards him, Scout doing the same. Scout never saw the fist coming as it rocketed into the side of his face with a loud crack.

Scout reeled back, clutching the side of his face. "What the hell? How did you break from my control?" He cried out.

"Easy, you disgust me." She answered and cocked her fist back again. " **Ice God Pound!** " She called and slammed her black-ice covered fist into the middle of Scouts face, possible fracturing his skull and breaking his nose. " **Ice God Kick!** " Her foot became enveloped in the same black-ice and she quickly followed up her punch with a massive kick to the side of his head, knocking him out cold. His now limp form collapsing to the ground. In less than five seconds. Scout was rendered unable to fight. "Ahhh, that felt good." She sighed, brushing some dust that had accumulated on her white coat.

The purple barrier disappeared in a flash of purple and multiple cheers ran through the air. "Snow is so fucking awesome!" I heard someone call out from the crowd.

"Not to mention extremely sexy!" Another answered back and I had to refrain myself from finding who the two were and beating them into a bloody mess, a pang of jealousy spiking through me. I knew people talked about Snow like that as she was an extremely beautiful woman. But why was I getting so mad over it all of a sudden?

After the crowd that had been congratulating Snow on her flawless victory began to disperse she walked up and sat down next to me.

"That one hell of an ass beat you just pulled there Snow." I congratulated, hiding a small blush that had begun to crawl up my neck from thinking about her.

"Oh yea!" She agreed, stretching her arms out in front of her. "I have been waiting so long to beat his face in like that I couldn't hold back," She lowered her arms back down into her lap and watched as some guild mates picked up Scout's unconscious body and dropped him down onto a stretcher. "Although, by the looks of things I may have gone a little too overboard."

"Nah, little bastard got what he deserves. Maybe now he will know to back the hell off when you tell him to." I chuckled at the thought of Scout on his knees and begging for forgiveness. I was about to open my mouth to speak again when some commotion coming from the group that had gathered to my right.

"What the _fuck_ did you just say to me!?" I heard Gor yell from somewhere in the middle of the group. As it parted I caught a glimpse of Gor being held back by four men as he tried to throw himself at our Shadow Make Mage, Shade. Who had an extremely calm expression plastered on his face and both of his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. Shade had black hair, red eyes and extremely pale white skin. Making him look a lot like a ghost. He always wore a black coat that had blue stripes running vertically along it. A black shirt underneath and long baggy black pants. By the looks of it he had angered Gor. The Rupture Mage trying to break the grasp of the other men to throw himself as Shade.

"I'm sure that you heard me, Gor. But if you insist I will repeat it again for you. I said that I am stronger than you and there will be no possible way that you could defeat me in a fair fight wielding your weak ass magic. I always knew that you were stupid but slightly deaf is something new."

Gor's face was beet red in anger and his eyes were full of the urge to kill. "Just wait. Just _wait_ until I fight you. I promise you that you will regret saying that." Gor seamlessly broke the grasp of the four that were holding him back. Veins bulging out on his neck from anger and pushed himself free from the crowd. Stalking out of the arena, using one of it's many exits.

"Damn, I knew Gor had a short fuse but I didn't think that Shade could get under his skin so easily." Snow observed and Shade smirked slightly.

Shade was easily the most calmest and collected man in the guild. But he was easily the most ruthless killer. The bodies of the victims he killed were usually maimed and unrecognizable by even their closest family.

"Do you think that Gor could beat Shade?"

"I honestly don't know. The two are both extremely powerful mages. I guess we will just have to see when the time comes." I looked back over to where Shade was standing, the smile still plastered onto his pale face. _'Something doesn't seem right with him'_ I thought before looking away again. _'Don't let your emotions control your actions, Gor. They will only be your downfall.'_

* * *

 **A/N**

 **And that is chapter three! I don't know about this one, however. Some parts were hard to write and took loads of trial and error to work through to something that I thought could pass while some of the sections flowed easily. Anyways. Now, I may have been a little ahead of myself last chapter. I did say that things would start to kick off but it may not have been how some may have suspected. Next chapter will be the end of the introductory chapters, showcasing some character in the guild. Their magic, etc. and should probably be the start of the Oracion Seis arc! As always let me know what you like/didn't like so I can make the story more enjoyable for you, as the readers, to read!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for such a long wait but I was camping for a week without internet(I almost died) and I was doing fixes and updates on the previous chapters. Anyway, enjoy Chapter 4!**

* * *

"Ready?"

I nodded.

"Alright. 3...2.." With a jerk Snow put my bent and broken nose back into place with a snap.

I bit my tongue to keep from making any sort of sound, then wiped my upper lip quickly as fresh blood began to leak from my nose again. "Thanks, Snow. But I thought we were going on one"

She chuckled lightly at my statement, "It's not a problem. You should hopefully be good as new in a couple hours or there will be no way you will be able to win your next fight."

"And who would I be fighting against?"

"It will be either Gor or Shade. Whoever wins will be the one you fight. Obviously."

I nodded in agreeance. We were back in the infirmary, again. I was sitting on an old, and rotting wooden chair while Snow sat on another chair in front of me. We had sealed all of my wounds closed with our Ice Magic and then Snow set my nose back into place. So it hopefully won't heal back crooked. I was about to open my mouth to thank Snow when the door opened and Hunter walked in. He looked to me and then to Snow.

"Could you give us a few minutes, Snow?" Hunter asked and moved out of the doorway.

"Yea, No problem." She replied and gave me a quick wave in farewell, then nodding to Hunter as she exited the room.

"What do you want?" I asked Hunter. Turning my gaze to him from the retreating form of Snow as the door shut behind her.

He reached into his cloak and brought out a small syringe filled with a blue liquid. "I have a few gift's for you. The only catch will be I need to see how they work before I give them to you. Just to see if they do their intended purpose." Hunter handed the syringe to me, I took it in my hands and looked down on it. Giving it a quick once-over.

"What's it supposed to do?"

"Increase your strength and magic power exponentially. You will be faster, your wounds will heal seamlessly."

I put the needle part of the syringe gently into the vein in my forearm. Watching as the needle broke through my flesh. Once it was in far enough I pressed the plunger all the way down, injecting the blue-tinted liquid into my arm. All the while Hunter was grinning like a fool. "I... Don't feel any difBLECH." I ate my words as I threw up, fluorescent blue liquid spewing from my mouth and coating the ground. I let out a pained groan as my mouth felt like it was on fire. My hands instinctively went to my throat as it felt like I was choking and began to furiously cough. "What... The fuck... Was in that... Thing." I choked out before I collapsed out of the chair, falling to the ground, my body erupting in pain. I let out a roar as I felt my magic power begin to increase extremely fast and the ground beneath me began to freeze over.

"Condensed ethernano and a few other things that I thought would help."

"Ethernano? You poisoned me you _fuck!_ " I roared and lunged at him. The feeling of immense pain from before was gone and all I felt was raw strength. My fist went right through Hunter and broke the chair that he was sitting on into splinters. "Hm? A projection?"

The projection of my adopted father let out a laugh. "Yes, do you really think I would be stupid enough to come here in my real body? I knew you would be this furious so I decided to take precautions for my own safety."

The door slammed open as Snow ran in. Fists at the ready. "What the fuck is going on... Here?" She asked, a confused look appearing on her face as her eyes fell on me. "Neil? What the fuck happened to you?"

I raised an eyebrow at her statement. "Pardon?"

"Look at yourself!"

For the first time since I had injected myself with the serum that Hunter had gave me I looked down at my own body. And what I saw made me almost cry out in shock. My arms, from the tips of my fingers all the way up to my shoulders were covered in grayish-white scales that reflected the light emanating from the many fires in the room. I lifted a hand up to my face and felt the same scales on my forehead and cheeks. Out of curiosity I put a single digit into my mouth and found that my teeth were now elongated and ended in sharp points. I grabbed a small tuft of my hair and saw that it was white as well, with what seemed to be either shards of ice glinting and falling off of it, or it was actual glitter. I reached around to my back and ran my hand along the three spikes that now jutted from my back and ran along the length of my spine. Each one angled slightly downward. "What the hell happened?" I thought out loud as Snow's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Dragon Force, the ultimate form of a Dragon Slayer. It is said when a Dragon Slayer mage is in this state their power rivals that of a Dragon." Came the astounded reply from Hunter, as his projection slowly walked around me. Drinking in every detail.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before I injected myself?"

"I didn't know what would happen to be honest with you. I didn't mean for it to cause you so much pain, but I just had to try this."

"How did you know that Ethernano would unlock Dragon Force?"

"From the Tower of Heaven incident not too long ago. Once of the Fairytail Dragon Slayer's consumed Ethernano and he entered Dragon Force. So I began to study immensely on it and was able to create that serum. Its a liquid form of Ethernano, capable of invoking Dragon Force unto whomever uses it. The results are... Fascinating."

I looked back down at the scales that covered my arms. _'These scales look just like Glace's'_ I thought as I closed my right hand into a fist.

The projection of Hunter pointed to a table that had four more of the syringes on them. "Take those. Those are the only four that I was able to make and I doubt that I will be able to make anymore so use them wisely."

I nodded and grabbed them from the table. "You know... Dad. This is one of the best things you have ever done for me, I feel so much closer to my mother now that I have this power." I said, lowering my gaze at him. "Thank you."

Hunter gave a half smile and nodded, "You are welcome, son." The projection said and then vanished, leaving no trace of him ever being there. I looked back to Snow, meeting her still astonished look.

"You wouldn't believe how badass I feel right now Snow."

"You wouldn't believe how good you look." Snow replied as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Now lets go, Gor's fight should be about to start."

I nodded, hoping the blush that had formed on my face was covered by the scales.

* * *

 **"Rupture!"** Gor roared as he slammed both of his hands into the ground, making the earth beneath Shades feet collapse underneath him. The two mages had been going back and forth for almost half an hour. Both mages were tired, battered and bruised. Yet neither of them refused to give into defeat.

 **"Shadow Make Floor!"** Shade countered, then used the platform that he had made underneath him to jump out of the crater Gor had made. **"Shadow Make Bear!"** The Maker Mage thrusted his hands forward and a pitch black bear materialized from the shadows gathered around him, letting loose a fearsome roar.

 **"Dispel!"** Gor said then thrust his arm forward, three tendrils of magic blasted from his hands and sunk into the shadow bear. It let loose another roar before it exploded in a blast of white.

"Hmm, not bad for a mindless idiot like you. Now lets finish this!" Shade shouted and charged Gor. **"Shadow Make Buster!"** He chanted and an enormous buster sword materialized in his hands.

Gor smirked and met Shades attack, quickly dispelling it and following it up with a massive uppercut which Shade swiftly dodged and in one fluid motion swept Gor's legs out from underneath him. Not skipping a beat he slammed him elbow into the still airborne Gor's gut and sent him into the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"Big mistake!" Gor chuckled, **"Rupture!"** He shouted and all of the particles of dust that had gathered in the air exploded simultaneously, filling the room with a brilliant bright white. After the dust from the initial explosion cleared it revealed both of the Mages still standing. Gor was heavily breathing, his shoulders rising and falling in rhythm with his heavy breaths while Shade stood opposite of him. A cocky smirk on his face and his body wreathed in shadowy tendrils.

"Exerting yourself too much Gor? I don't know what you expected to do with that last attack but as you might be able to see." He said, raising up his arms. "I'm uninjured."

"I'm not finished yet you bastard! I still have some fight left in me!" Gor steeled his gaze, and despite the numerous cuts and gashes that littered his body, soaking his clothing a crimson red. He stood defiant.

"Then I guess it's time I finish you. It's been fun." Shade lowered himself into a stance, hands clasped together. **"Shadow Make Arrows!"** He shouted and a pitch black magic circle appeared before him. A volley of dark arrows shooting from him. In response Gor lifted his hand in defense.

 **"Dispel!"** He countered and the arrows disappeared in small flashed of white light. What he didn't see was Shade was only using the arrows as a distraction.

"Too slow!" He cackled and hit him in the face with a stiff right hook, followed quickly with a snap kick to the chest breaking a few ribs and sending Gor flying back. Not willing to let Gor get back up again Shade grabbed the still airborne Gor and tossed him into the air. The now limp body of Gor crashed into the ceiling and as gravity began to act upon his form. He began to plummet. **"Shadow Make Hammer!"** A giant two handed hammer appeared in Shade's grasp, and with a devilish grin he leapt into the air, hammer reared back and ready to strike. Gor weakly glanced at the hammer above him, the last of his strength having left him, he could only watch as the hammer made contact with his chest and everything went black.

* * *

"GOR!" I screamed as the magic shield was dispelled, letting me run to my friends side, Snow following close behind. I put my fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. To my relief I found one, even if it was faint it meant that Gor was still alive. Now over my fear that Gor had been killed I lowered my gaze at Shade. "What the _fuck_ were you thinking!?"

"Hm? I was only making sure that he wasn't going to get back up. Although I don't think it would have been much of a loss if I killed the poor bastard anyway." He replied, dispelling the hammer that he was leaning on his shoulder. Without thinking I shot up a blinding speed, my body still under the influence of Dragon Force and grabbed Shade's neck.

"Listen closely," I hissed, baring my teeth. A killing intent filling my eyes. "You are going to go get healed up. Drink a potion to restore your magic energy and we settle this _now_."

Shade, seemingly not fazed by my statement smiled at me. "If you're so eager to get your ass beat like he did. It would be my fucking honor." I let go of his neck and he calmly walked off to find one of our healing mages. I turned back around to see Gor getting carried off to the infirmary and Snow standing there, hands in her pockets.

"I don't think he knows about Dragon Force. He didn't even seem to take notice at your appearance."

I nodded in aggreeance. "Yea. But Shade's a powerful opponent. I know he won't be an easy fight. The fact that he bested Gor like that shows he isn't stupid either."

"Well, I have nothing else really to say to you. Dragon Force seemed to have fully healed your wounds and you seem good to go. Kick his ass. For me... And Gor." She held up her fist and I bumped it with my own.

"Gladly." The Ice God Slayer gave me a ghost of a smile before she turned around and began to walk back to the sidelines. I watched her as she went, trying not to let my eyes drift below her waistline. Even if the swaying of her hips was making it extremely difficult.

"Stop ogling that slut and put up your fists!" Shade yelled from the other side of the arena, having returned from getting healed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Snow narrow her eyes at me, a ghost of a blush on her face. Then promptly flipped the bird to Shade, who returned it.

"First things first. Snow isn't a slut." I growled, cracking my knuckles and then enveloping my fists in ice. "Secondly, too slow." There was a flash of fear in Shade's eyes before I was on him in an instant, my hand impacting his head with an audible _crack_ as the force from the blow sent him flying backwards.

Shade was able to shoot a hand out and dig it into the ground, righting himself. My eyes met his and he wiped a small bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. "That all ya got?" He taunted before he let out a loud gasp, spittle and blood flying from his mouth as my fist made contact with his stomach.

"Oh no, there is _a lot_ more where that came from." I snarled and began sucking in a breath. **"Ice Dragon Roar!"** I screamed. The breath attack impacted the surprised mage at point blank range and he yet again was sent flying back from the force of my attack. Once I cut the roar off I looked down at my hands and the white scales that covered them. _'I feel so much power... Like it will never run out. Is this how Glace felt all the time.'_ There was a small rustle and I looked up to see Shade shakily getting to his knees, holding his chest as blood flowed freely from his broken nose and he spit out a large glob of blood.

"I'll have to admit... You back quite a whollop." He rasped, coughing up more blood into his hand. "I haven't been able to land a single hit on you yet. But that doesn't mean that it's over." He crossed his arms in front of him and began to chant. **"Forbidden Arts."** A wave of magic energy erupted from him, almost forcing me to my knees.

 _'What is this magic, it feels... Wrong.'_

 **"Harbinger Of Evil: Shadow Make Demon Greatsword!"** He finished his spell and a large sword appeared in his hands. The sword was pure black and had shadowy tendrils orbiting the length of the blade, which seemed to swallow the light around it like it was eternally hungry.

"What the hell is tha-" I was cut off as Shade swung the sword, a blast of pure magic energy rocketing towards me in a wave. I didn't have enough time to react to the sudden attack and the attack hit me in the middle of my chest. A scream escaped from my mouth as the wave cut into my chest with white hot pain. My body instinctively buckled in on itself as I held my chest, quickly sealing the wound with my ice magic.

"If I didn't stop it I could have cut you in half. But if I did that then Hunter would probably have killed me as well." Shade said as he readied the sword to strike the air again. I watched as he swung, the blast of magic rocketing from the blade again and I began to run towards it. As expected I was met with no resistance so I grabbed his right forearm and twisted, dislocating his shoulder. Without skipping a beat I then punched his elbow, breaking his arm. Shade let out a growl and swept my legs out from underneath me, yet I was prepared for it and kept a firm grasp on his arm, taking him down with me. As soon as I hit the ground I rolled on top of Shade, cocking back my right arm.

"Gotcha," I chuckled and began to send blow after blow into Shade's unprotected face while all he could do was sit there and scream, yet it wasn't long until his screams of pain and fury were reduced to weak whimpers.

I pulled my fist back for another blow but it was grabbed by one of the guild members and I was unceremoniously pulled off of Shade. "Let me go you bastards!" I screamed as I fought to get free from the grips of my guild mates, letting all of my magic energy seep out in an effort to try and get free. Although soon enough I the last of my magical reserves had run out, and I slumped, defeated into the arms of the guild.

* * *

"I'm sorry Neil, but you can no longer be a member of the guild." Hunter said, his arms crossed as he looked down on me with a scrutinizing gaze. "You knew the rules and you defied them. Killing Shade was unacceptable and frowned upon. He didn't kill Gor, you went overboard, son. Now you pay the price." He waved his hand and turned to leave. You leave when you are better, I will see you off.

* * *

"He can't do this Neil!" Snow yelled, tears in her eyes as she wrapped me in a hug. One which I returned.

"Well, he did. I'm sorry that it had to be this way. But, he's right. I knew the rules and I tramped all over them. I went out of line."

"But your his son!"

"Adopted son. I'm nothing more, nothing less to him. Just another pawn on the board."

"I'll leave with you." I felt my eyes widen and I searched her eyes to see the hint of a lie. But I couldn't find it.

"Why?"

"Because, Neil. We both know that you can't make it out there alone. Not with your sense of navigation and the fact we keep out guildmarks. If any legal guild sees you. They'll kill you."

"Hm, I suppose you are right. But that doesn't mean you have to come, you have a life in Midnight. I don't anymore.

"I _had_ a life. It was lost when you were exocommunicated. Besides, I'm sure we'll work well as a team."

* * *

I winced lightly at the slap that resounded through the room.

"Remember the pain, Hunter." Snow snarled as she pulled her hand back. "I'll do a lot worse if I ever see your ugly face again."

"Cmon Snow, let's go." I said, motioning for us to leave.

"One second Neil." She said and turned back to Hunter, grabbing him by the collar. "You don't own him, you don't know him and he isn't your son. You aren't deserving enough to call yourself the father of Neil." She whispered into Hunters ear and threw him back. "Consider this my official resignation from the guild." She bowed mockingly and whipped around, coat billowing around her. I could have sworn she looked like an angel. She stopped in front of me and smiled, one which I returned with equal fervor. "Let's do this together." She smiled, and we left the guild hand in hand. Not knowing what awaited us.

* * *

 **PLOT TWIST!... Sorry I just had to do that.. *ahem* It's all borderlands fault...**

 **And that is the end of chapter four! Again, sorry for how long it took it's just... Well... Life caught up to me. Please let me know of any mistakes I made! On another note this marks the end of the intro chapters and the start of the Nirvana Arc! Thanks for reading!**

 **~Sunwing**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for such a long wait. I had some absolutely massive writers block and my other file for the chapter got corrupted, because stupid me didn't update it so I lost the entire chapter and had to rewrite it, then lost it again so I just decided to break the chapter up into two parts because there was no way that I was going to be writing this for a third time. Anyway, again, sorry I haven't updated in over a month and enjoy the chapter.**

 _"Hey, Glace?"_

" _Yes, little one?" She replied, her rough yet soft voice replied, turning her head to face me from where she was laying down._

" _What's... Love?"_

 _She let out a small chuckle that rumbled in her throat before answering. "Love is a... Difficult concept to grasp without feeling it yourself my little dragon. You could ask a hundred different people and a hundred different dragons, yet get a different answer from each one."_

" _But I do know what love feels like Glace. I love you."_

 _I noticed a small glint of amusement in her eyes before she replied. "Yes, but love between a mother and her son is a lot different from love between two people."_

 _I took a couple seconds to process what she had said, my small hand reaching out to gently run along the smooth scales of Glaces tail. Which had subconscious wrapped itself around me. "Well, how will I know when I feel real love then?"_

" _You will want to be with them all the time, feel overly possessive of them, you won't be able to get enough of their scent. Even just a whiff of it could possibly be intoxicating."_

" _You seem to know a lot on the subject."_

" _Yes, I do. I was once in love." I detected the small hint of sadness in her voice, and quickly realized that it must have been a sore concept for her._

" _I'm sorry for prying, Glace."_

" _It's quite alright little one, maybe I will tell you about my family sometime." Her head rose to the steadily darkening sky, the setting sun reflecting off of her scales and casting a serene glow in the plateau that we were residing in. "But it's getting late. And I know a little dragon that needs to get some rest."_

 _I squirmed slightly as she nuzzled me with her large head. "Alright, Glace I'm moving!"_

 _The Ice Dragon let out a light chuckle as I moved to my resting place in the middle of her stomach. Her tail wrapped around me protectively and immediately began flooding my small body with warmth. "Goodnight, mom."_

" _Goodnight little one._

* * *

"Neil!"

I heard a voice call out and I glanced up from the dirt road that I had been staring at, rubbing my eyes. "Hm?" I looked forward to see Snow standing in front of me, a slightly worried look plastered on her face.

"Sheesh man, thought you had fallen asleep on your feet or something. Cmon, we're getting close to Clover now and it is rumored to be quite a hotspot for people from the Blue Pegasus guild."

"What are we doing in Clover again? I thought we were moving on Nirvana so shouldn't we be going to the forest instead?"

"It was rumored that four of the strongest light guilds would me meeting in a mansion that was owned by the Master of Blue Pegasus. And in order to get to the location we need to pass through Clover." Snow replied as she pulled her pure white cloak over her shoulders and raised a mask to cover the bottom half of her face. "So it's best we go incognito, nobody really knows about Midnight Stone but lets not take the chance. Don't forget that Hunter doesn't remove our guild marks."

That was true. It was a strong belief of Hunter that once you were a member of Midnight Stone you were always a member, no matter what. But Hunter had told me that it was just to make it easier to track down and eliminate those who left or were excommunicated form the guild. However a part of me knew that he wouldn't come after us yet. He knew we were still a major player on the board.

I flipped up the collar of my black coat to hide the guild's insignia that was tattooed on the left side of my neck. It was a fairly hard place to hide but I would have to make due. "How far are we from Clover still?"

"Shouldn't be more than just a couple minutes."

I sighed lightly, we had been walking for a few hours now and my feet were starting to protest this amount of activity. It wasn't that I was out of shape. Far from it really, I just wasn't used to walking for hours on end with no stop.

After a few minutes of walking in silence Clover Town was finally in view, I felt a small spark of joy as I realized that our long journey was nearing an end and I would finally be able to get a few minutes of rest before me and Snow moved on our final objective.

As we entered the town I noticed some of the quizzical looks that we got from some of the people we passed by. I shoved my hands into my pockets and looked down at the ground, trying not to notice when a mother held her child a little tighter as we walked past.

"I have a feeling that we aren't the most welcome here." Snow observed as a shopkeeper switched his 'OPEN' sign to 'CLOSED'

"We are probably irregularities. That and after the Lullaby incident they are probably quite guarded when cloaked people just waltz into their town. Honestly, as long as we can get a room at an inn I won't be bothered by it."

There was a small grunt of agreeance from Snow before silence fell over us again. I was about to open my mouth to initiate another conversation when someone ran into me. I let out a small shout in surprise and felt some of my magic bleed into the air around me, flash freezing the ground before I landed rather roughly on the now frozen stone. I let out a low groan and sat up, wiping off the perspiration that froze to my face from my sudden release of magical energy.

"God fucking dammit." I heard someone mumble to my left and looked over to see the man that had run into me. He had short black hair that was rather curly with dark brown eyes. His face had a long scar that ran from the top right of his face, and ended just under the left side of his jaw, narrowly missing his eyes. He had tanned skin and from what I could see also seemed to be rather burly. After composing himself and dusting off some of the frost that clung to his cloak he looked up at me. "Who are you?" He asked, it was a simple question, really. But it took me a couple seconds to answer because of all the possible scenarios that began to run through my head.

"Neil. Name's Neil."

"No last name?"

"No."

"Hm, different." The man mumbled under his breath, although with my enhanced Dragon Slayer hearing I was able to hear it quite quickly.

"You haven't introduced yourself."

The man looked up at me, his dark brown eyes studying my own ice-blue ones. "Cayde. Cayde Cosden." He replied, picking up some papers that he had been carrying from the frozen ground.

 _"Damn, I was hoping that he wasn't going to have a last name."_ I thought as I stood up, offering a hand to held Cayde up, which he accepted.

"Been meaning to ask you, What guild are you from? Don't think I remember seeing that particular guild mark anywhere."

My entire body froze as the last words fell from his lips. I reached up to my neck to find that my hand felt bare skin instead of the rough fabric of my coat. "Uhhhh." I managed to choke out, quickly covering the mark back up with the collar of my coat and flipping my hood back up. "Isn't it rude to pry into the life of other people?"

"I think that I am quite qualified to do so. I am the Enforcer of the Magic Council after all."

 _' Ahh shit.'_

"So I would like to know the name of the guild that you are part of if you would be so kind."

I was thinking on knocking the guy out when Snow came to my rescue.

"Hey Neil~!" She sung as she grabbed onto my arm and pulled me close. "You said that we were going to get a hotel room and I am sooooo tired!" She whined, giving me a pouty look, "Can we go now?"

I looked at Cayde and then back to Snow. "Uhm, sorry. But I kind of have to go. She get's a little cranky when she doesn't get her way."

Cayde glared at us and then snorted. "Hmpf, whatever then. Just know that I will be keeping an eye on you two. Got it?"

I nodded and he turned around on his heel, stalking off the way he had come.

"That was close, too close." Snow said as she let go of my arm, fixing the wrinkles in her cloak.

"I agree, thanks for coming to my rescue there, Snow. I owe you one."

"It wasn't just for me. We both can't afford getting caught." She huffed and then looked up to me. "Cmon, we should get to the room."

"When did you get a room?"

"When you and that other guy were having some brotherly bonding. Now let's go. You need a shower fairly bad."

I shook my head, a small smile on my face. With a snap of my fingers the ice that had been coating the street melted and began to flow into the cracks between the stone slabs.

* * *

I looked out the window at the dimly lit streets of Clover Town. The town was rather dead in the mornings and it seemed that it was even more so at night. The only light coming from the lamps that had been implanted with lacrima or from the flickering light of a dying fire from inside someones house. Snow had gotten a room with only one bed, while it didn't bother me much it did make me slightly uncomfortable when she flashed me a rather suggestive grin. Although unsurprisingly she didn't act on anything and went right to sleep. I closed my eyes as a cold wind blew through the window, my coat billowing out behind me. Since I was an Ice Dragon Slayer the cold didn't bother me, so instead of shivering I smiled contently as the wind wrapped me in its frigid caress.

"Neil?" I heard a soft voice ask and I looked over to the bed to see Snow sitting up, giving me a quizzical look. "Why are you still up?"

"I was thinking," I replied, looking away from her and back out the window. "On what happened the day I was excommunicated."

"Neil, that wasn't your fault. Shade-"

"But it was my fault." I cut her off, turning to look at her. "Shade didn't kill himself did he?"

"No, but he egged you on."

"Yes, he did. And the way I see it he had it coming to him. But it doesn't change the fact that I killed one of our own. Shade was a cocky ass but he was still family. And I murdered him." I said looking down, refusing to meet Snow's sympathetic gaze. "And the worst part is that I don't even remember it." I said, a single tear escaping from the wall that I had been trying to hold them behind.

"Neil..." Snow whispered, getting up from the bed and slowly walking over to me as if trying to sneak up on a sleeping bear. I tore my gaze from the floor to look up at her. The soft glow from the moonlight making her stunningly beautiful in an ethereal kind of way. "You don't have to carry burdens like this alone. I'll be here, and I'll be here for as long as you need me to be." She said and wrapped me in a light embrace which I returned.

"Why can't I remember how I killed him Snow?" I whispered, resting my chin on her shoulder as a few more tears began to leak out of my eyes. "The last thing I remember about him is the fear in his eyes before everything went black."

Snow sucked in a deep breath before answering. "You beat him until he was nothing but a bloody mess. We were barely able to pull you off of him. It was the most furious I had ever seen you. Being in Dragon Force it was the most draconic I had ever seen you before."

"Did I hesitate any?"

"Not once."

With that I began crying into her shoulder, my tears running freely as all of my pent up emotions began flooding out of me like a waterfall. I did blame myself for Shade's death, yes. I did kill him after all. The part that saddened me was that I wasn't able to remember how I killed him. But maybe it was a good thing, considering that I did it with no mercy and the look on Shade's face as he died would have most likely haunted me for the rest of my life. "T-thank you for being here with me Snow."

I felt her smile against my shoulder as we slowly rocked back and forth, neither of us willing to break our embrace just yet. "And I will always be here for you, Neil." She whispered into my ear, "Forever and for always."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I awoke to the sound of steady, soft breathing. Rubbing my eyes I slowly looked left to see Snow with her back turned towards me, yet still close enough that I could still feel the warmth emanating from her body. For a couple seconds I laid there, watching the rise and fall of her chest and she took in breath after breath. As I was lost in thought a cool breeze blew in through the still open window. It didn't bother me, being an Ice Dragon Slayer and all, it shouldn't have bothered Snow either but that didn't stop her body subconsciously moving to one of the two objects emanating heat in the room. The second being her. Stifling a yawn I sat up and crawled out of bed. Moving slowly and gingerly as to not wake up the sleeping beauty beside me. Looking down and quickly realizing I was still wearing my clothing from the day before. And then quickly deducing that I didn't have anything else to wear, as we had left the guild quite suddenly. I quietly opened the door and slipped from the room, making sure to not disturb Snow's rest as I left.

I quickly realized that it was still quite early in the morning, as there was only a few people in the lobby down below and a fairly fatigued looking bartender standing behind the bar. Giving the room a quick once over I was quickly able to realize that the majority of the patrons in the lobby were over on the far right of the room, with the exception of a group of four... Well five if you count the strange blue thing. Sitting at a table of the far left of the room, and against my better judgement I chose to sit on their side of the room where it would hopefully be more secluded and quiet.

Silently I made my way over to the table that I had picked. It had two chairs and looked rather old and rickety, but surprisingly still fairly strong at the same time. The chair that I had chose to sit down on gave a small creak in protest as I let my weight fall upon it yet still held up. Letting out a small sigh I leaned back in the chair and watched the members of the table near me. While they weren't the quietest bunch in the world I could live with the noise they were making. There was a red haired girl clad in armor sitting in the chair nearest to my position, she was a rather beautiful woman. Nice face, full lips, an aura that just seemed to exclude power. I watched as she turned to a salmon haired boy and knocked him over the head with a gauntleted fist, making him fall back and out of his chair. Judging by those actions I guessed that she must be the pseudo leader of their small band.. The next girl, a blonde one. Who was sitting to the left of the scarlet haired one was the next that my eyes fell upon. Yet her back was turned to me so I couldn't get the best look at her as she was speaking to the salmon haired man who was now getting up slowly. Rubbing his head. The presumably young woman most likely being the voice of reason in the group. Straining my ears I tried to pick up on the conversation that they were having yet the amount of noise in the relatively empty room was just enough that it made it too hard to focus on just one thing, ending my thoughts of eavesdropping rather quickly.

After sitting there for about ten minutes, studying that group that was now featuring an arm wrestle between a raven haired man, whose name I quickly learned was Gray. And the pink haired one who went by Natsu. And although the arm wrestling match was much to the distaste of the red-head, Erza. She said she would let it go just this one time. Although my eavesdropping had gone relatively unnoticed it was only a matter of time before the group of five noticed the creepy guy staring at them from the corner. While the small band didn't really scare me all that much as I was sure I had fought tougher foes before. A four against one wasn't a fight I was looking to get into. Especially if it meant I had to fight the two beautiful woman sitting at the table. I was about to get up and leave before I spotted an insignia on the back of Lucy's right hand. Squinting my eyes I was barely able to make it out, but there was no mistaking the guild mark of Fairy Tail when I saw it. Quickly deciding that a hasty retreat was my best option I abruptly stood up from the chair and began to quickly make my way back to the inn room. I had heard the stories of the great Titania of Fairy Tail. I should have known it wouldn't have been that easy. I didn't walk five steps before there was the tip of a sword at my throat, the feel of the cold steel sent small chills down my spine and I felt a speck of fear before I quickly forced it back down.

"You know, it's quite rude to stare." Erza intoned as I lifted a hand down to try and slowly move the sword away from my neck. Sadly to no avail.

"Hm, and it's quite rude to put a sword up to the throat of someone you haven't met, Fairy." I answered back and I saw her narrow her eyes at me out of the corner of my eye. By now the entire inn had gone silent, everyone focused on all the ruckus that we were making. Probably not everyday you would see someone holding a sword to another person's neck.

"Hm, got me there." She said and lowered the sword down to my abdomen. "Now, I need you to tell me what you were doing eavesdropping on us and we won't have any problems."

"Seem a little on edge there, _Erza_. Planning on taking down any Dark Guild's anytime soon?" I asked, making sure to plaster the best shit eating grin on my face as I could.

"You didn't answer my question."

I was about to speak again when the blonde girl, Lucy spoke up. "Erza, how do we know this person is really a mage after all? I mean, I can't feel any magic coming off of him whatsoever."

"It's because he's masking it, Lucy. He can almost hide his entire magical signature from me as well. Which leads me to believe he is a powerful mage."

"Hm, impressive." I admired, grinning. "You FairyTail mages are a lot stronger than I thought if you are able to sense my magical signature when I'm deliberately hiding it." I replied, using the tip of Erza's sword to clean some of the grit from under my fingernails. "Now, if you would be so kind. I would rather not be at sword point when conversing."

After a couple seconds of complete silence, with Erza studying me with a quizzical gaze, she gave a long drawn out sigh. "Alright, but on one condition. You show us the type of magic you use. That way if you do happen to try something." She pushed her sword against me a little harder. "I'll be able to deal with you."

I nodded and sucked in a light breath. Leaning in closer to Erza, and ignoring her light blush I breathed lightly, sending a small cloud of icy air from my mouth. The scarlet haired woman flinched lightly, as if expecting some sort of attack but calmed as the cloud of my misty breath passed over her, freezing the tips of her scarlet hair and lightly dusting her face with frost, making her seem even more beautiful that before. As I stopped blowing on her face the frost that had accumulated slowly began to melt, the small droplets of water slowly running down her face and reflecting the minuscule light of the room.

"Ice magic eh?" She stated, wiping the moisture from her face with a gauntleted hand. "I always thought that ice magic was a beautiful form of magic."

I nodded in approval, "That it is." I agreed and slowly pushed her sword away from my abdomen.

"So you're an Ice Mage as well huh?" I heard a male voice ask from behind me. Turning around I looked at Gray, who was mysteriously missing his shirt. I didn't know whether to cringe or laugh at the silliness of it. But deciding doing nothing was the best option I refrained from doing both. I was about to open my mouth to answer when I felt an increase of magic power. The source being a very familiar Air Magic.

I turned around to face the entrance way and was barely able to yell "Ice Dragon Vanguard!" Before the entry way was exploded in a shower of wood splinters and Air Magic. Gritting my teeth I tried to keep the hastily erected barrier up, but the combined force of the two Air Mages and the splinters of wood flying through the air was enough to break through my shield. As the ice from my shield shattered I raised my arms up in a weak protective stance but to my surprise nothing hit me, despite a couple of small wood pieces.

Looking up I couldn't help but let a small grin chisel itself onto my face, for in the place of my destroyed barrier was one made of an also familiar dark black ice. "Sorry I wasn't down sooner, Neil. Had to make myself presentable."

"It's alright Snow, at least you showed up at the right time. All that counts in my books." I stated and gave her a fist-bump. I hard a groan behind me and when I looked to investigate I saw all of the Fairy Tail mages, and their small cat getting up off the ground, Lucy and Natsu rubbing their heads. Gray looking around for where his pants went and Erza standing at attention, sword in-hand. I must have forgotten them in my haste to erect the barrier to protect myself.

"Making new friends I see." I heard Snow say and I nodded my head in confirmation.

"Yea, you could say that. They are from Fairy Tail. Rather rowdy bunch." I replied, almost forgetting about the attack that had happened before Snow's ice wall dissipated and the two Genie Brothers were standing in the now demolished entryway, Djinn wiping some blood from the corner of his lip, grinning manically, his eyes a blood red.

"Jinn, Djinn." I said, nodding to each respectively. "What are you two lapdogs doing here? Shouldn't you be shining Hunter's shoes or something like that?"

"You should be careful not to insult us Neil." Djinn said, getting into a battle stance.

"You know that you winning last time was a fluke. And now with the price on your head..." Jinn growled, an evil glint shining in his eye. "You're **OUR'S** " He screeched before launching a blast of magic at Snow and I, which Snow countered with a blast of her own magic.

As Snow distracted them I quickly turned around to the Fairy Tail Mages. "You guys stay out of this. These two are about on par with my strength, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt." I said, and without waiting for a response I rocketed towards Djinn, ice coating my hand in a thick coat. " **Ice Dragon Fist!"** I roared and swung my fist at Djinn who countered it with an attack of his own, sending out a small shock wave where our fist's met and shaking the now rickety building around us. By this point I wasn't much afraid on going all out on the two. Most if not all of the residents of the building had ran out screaming when the fight had begun and I wasn't too worried about the Fairy Tail mages because I was pretty sure that they would be able to hold their own as well.

"So I have a price on my head eh, Djinn? Mind if I ask who did?" I inquired as I blocked a roundhouse kick from him, countering with a kick of my own to his gut which sent him reeling back.

"Oh, I don't mind if you ask." He breathed, "But that doesn't mean that I'm going to tell." He chuckled and pointed his index finger at me. " **Air Impale!** " he yelled and a fast moving blast of air jetted towards me. I tried to dodge out of the way but the attack was moving too fast and I cried out as it raked my right shoulder, tearing a hole through the coat and shirt I had underneath. Showing raw, red skin. Wincing lightly I put my left hand over the wound and quickly froze it, stopping the bleeding.

"What the hell kind of attack was that?" I asked, as I lowered myself back into my regular battle stance.

"That was an attack powered by my Forbidden Art. You may not know but the Genie Brothers are avid users of a type of Blood Magic. Basically it powers our attacks based of power we draw form blood." He smiled, showing his long canines. "Something we couldn't do when we fought you back at Midnight Stone." I heard a sharp intake of breath from one of the mages behind me. Apparently Fairy Tail has heard of Midnight Stone before. The thought almost made me frightened a little that me and Snow had been found out. But through the adrenaline and blood lust I got from being in a battle, the though went over my head.

"Forbidden Arts, eh?" I inquired, beginning to circle to my right, Djinn to his left. As I circled I was able to see the fight that was going on between Snow and Jinn. The former seemed to be winning so I saw no need to try and intervene. "Sounds powerful."

"Oh you have no idea, it powers my attacks twofold."

"Oh, is that so? Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I used a powerup of my own." I grinned, lowering myself into a stance, my legs shoulder-width apart. " **Ice Drive** " I uttered, almost instantly feeling strength begin to flow into me as a white glow filled my vision. A drive spell didn't augment one's magical energy or stamina. It just made the magic hit _alot_ harder. " _Now_ we can fight!" I growled and slammed my fist into the ground. " **Ice Dragon Wave!** " I shouted, sending a wave of ice spikes snaking towards Djinn who rolled out of the way and quickly retaliated with one of his own spells which I deflected with a shield and sent it flying into the wall which exploded in thousands of tiny wood splinters. Using the brief distraction I glanced behind me to see that the Fairy Tail mages were indeed staying out of the fight, even if they seemed displeased about it.

"You're fast, Neil. I'll give you that."

"Hm, not bad yourself Djinn. Not many people can dodge that attack when I'm in drive mode." I responded and and sucked in a deep breath. " **Ice Dragon Roar!** " I shouted as a huge blast of ice magic erupted from my mouth, whipping up dust and debris as it traveled through the air.

" **Air Slicer.** " Djinn chanted and the attack met my roar with almost equal force. Almost. My roar overpowered Djinn's own attack and hit the surprised Air Mage dead on, sending him through the wall and out onto the street where a bunch of curious onlookers were watching the fight. Thinking that Djinn was out for the count I looked over to where Snow was still grappling with Jinn and watched her hit him with her 'Ice God Bow', hitting the Genie Brother in the chest and freezing him solid in black ice. Walking over to Snow, a grin on my face and the adrenaline from the battle retreating from me I gave her I high five. I was about to address the crowd that was gathering around the scene when Djinn let out a massive amount of magic power.

"Don't think that I'm out just this yet!" Djinn roared as wisps of black magic began to seep from the corners of his eyes which were now a blood red. Taken aback by the immense amounts of magic power that began to seep from Djinn I lowered myself in the stance for my 'Ice Dragon Sphere' for if the need arised.

"Neil, we need to get out of here. _Now!_ " Snow said, grabbing my arm and tugging. "He's casting one of Midnight's spells!"

"Wait, really?" I asked, my eyes wide. "When did he get time to learn one of those?"

"I don't know. But all I know is that we need to get out of here!" She warned, continuing to drag me but I planted my feet in the ground, stopping here from pulling me. "Neil, what are you do-"

"If it's the spell I think it is there's no way we can escape it. Midnight Wave will hunt down the caster's target to the end of the earth; there's no way I can run." I growled, shaking myself from Snow's grip. "You guy's go, I can deal with Djinn." I smiled, she looked me in the eyes, searching for something unknown before she pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Just don't die, okay?"

"I promise" I said and she let go of me, telling the Fairy Tail mages to follow her. Much to the protest of Natsu who kept on arguing about wanting to fight as well. Before he got promptly knocked out by Erza and slung over her shoulder. Chuckling a little I turned back to Djinn. "So, you can cast one of Midnight's spells? Interesting."

"Heh, you don't even know how fucked you are."

"Let's make a deal. You use you're most powerful move and I'll use mine. Whoever is left standing wins, aight?"

Djinn didn't answer, choosing to start casting his spell first. " **Forbidden by the Gods and welcomed by the Demons.** " He chanted, wisps of dark magic flowing off of him like a black fog. " **Dark Arts: Midnight Wave!** " He yelled and a black tendril of magic shot towards me from the fog that had gathered above Djinn. Grinning I began to cast my spell.

" **Welcomed by the Gods and judged by the Demons.** " I started, yet instead of black magic covering me a thin layer of white dust began to shower around me. " **Midnight Protection!** " I shouted and a golden shield covered my body, absorbing the black tendril that was moments away from hitting me and quickly disappearing after it did, blinding me for a couple moments as it shone a bright light. After the light dimmed out it revealed an extremely pissed off Djinn staring me down like a lion would its prey.

"That's **IT** " He roared clapping his hands together, a midnight black magic circle appearing before his body. "It's time you learn your place!"

 **A/N**

 **Yea... Sorry about the cliffhanger. But after experiencing massive writers block and then writing out this chapter, I decided that I should end it here so I can at least get this chapter out before I pass out. On another note, I'm going to stop promising when chapters are gonna come out. As I keep on breaking them. I may keep a counter on how far along the chapter is though so you guys can get a base idea on where I am. That will be placed on my profile. Super sorry about the... What? Two months? Give or take. I'll try to get the next out by the end of the year as, well, this one was massively harder to write then the previous one's with the introduction of FAiry Tail. ALSO, remember Cayde? Yes? No? Anyway he's the council guy from the last chapter and he is going to be playing a way bigger part in the story that I had thought as my friend is going to be the one writing chapters on him so I guess expect those sometime soon. Thanks for the followers, faves, and reviewers. And thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"It's time you learn your place!" Djinn roared as a jet black magic circle appeared before him. " **Forbidden Arts: Storm Caller!** " Instantly there was a swarm of black clouds over us, swirling and churning as if they were alive. " **Armageddon!** " He shouted. And as if someone had turned on a tap in the heavens the rain was falling. Drenching me almost instantly and soaking me to the core.

"So, is this supposed to do something special or is it just going to set the scene for our fight?" I asked nonchalantly as I opened up my mouth, catching some of the falling water in my mouth.

"Wait, you aren't affected?" Djinn asked, a look of surprise plastered on his face.

"Well, no. I am an _Ice_ _Dragon_ after all and ice is made out of water." I scolded and began to suck in some of the rain that was falling to lightly replenish my magic reserves. Crossing my arms in-front of me I glared up at Djinn. "Its showtime!" I cackled as an enormous ice-blue magic circle materialized in-front of me. " **The frigid temperature of an Ice Dragon cools all.** " I chanted " **Ice Dragon Frozen Tundra!** " and a wave of magic erupted from around me, freezing all of the rain that was falling and coating the soaked ground in a thin layer of ice that reflected sunlight, as the clouds had now dispersed. Djinn, who was now coated over by a thin layer of ice was slightly shivering, yet his red face said otherwise. What a hothead. "Cmon Djinn. Fight serious here, I'm getting bored."

I knew that I had hit a nerve as I saw a rather eye-catching vein pop out on his forehead. "I'm just getting started!" He laughed and thrust his arm forward, another black magic circle appearing before it. " **Forbidden Arts: Storm Impale** " He screamed and a black thread of magic shot from his hand. and went right through the shield that I had made to stop the attack, slightly nicking my ear.

"My turn!" I chuckled with glee, the bloodlust and adrenaline beginning to fill my veins yet again. " **Ice Dragon Wing Attack!** " I yelled, throwing my arms forward as tendrils of ice shot from them like whips. Yet Djinn easily dodged through them. While he was distracted I rushed forward, coating my fist in ice and I punched him in the stomach. Hopefully hard enough to break a couple ribs. And sent him flying down the street from the ruins of the inn and into another building. Cracking my knuckles I began to saunter up to the recently made renovation of the building when a blast of Air magic hit me in the stomach, forcing all of the air from my lungs and I was launched back a few feet, bouncing once as I impacted the ground before rolling to a stop. Groaning in pain I put a hand on my stomach and stood up slowly. Spitting out a glob of blood as I rose.

"Gonna bad mouth me more Neil!?" Djinn yelled in question. Emerging from the hole in the building with little to no damage on his form.

"Yea, just give me a couple seconds. Suffering from a little bit of internal bleeding here." I groaned, pumping my blood with some of my ice magic to hopefully patch up the wound. It wasn't the safest but it would have to do for the situation. "Alright. Now where were we?" I spat, cracking my neck. "Oh yea, I was kicking your ass." I said and then rushed forward, slamming my fist into Djinn's stomach before he even knew what hit him. " **Ice Dragon Roar!** " I shouted as the breath attack hit Djinn point blank, the force of both my fist and the roar sending him flying back. Yet before he hit the ground he dug his right hand into the ground and righted himself in midair, landing rather gracefully. Without skipping a beat he pointed his finger at me and without even seeing an attack coming I was hit by a blast of extremely condensed air on my right thigh. Ripping my pant leg and making a rather shallow cut on my thigh. As I froze the wound shut Djinn began casting another spell.

" **Forbidden Arts: Two Layer Magic Circle, Air Spire!** " He yelled and a white and black magic circle appeared underneath me.

 _'Well, this can't be good'_ I thought as I was about to cast my Ice Globe when the spell erupted upwards in a black and white spire made from both Black and Air magic. Grinding my teeth through the pain I was able to coat my body in a fairly solid layer of ice. Absorbing a good portion of the damage, yet not enough that I wasn't completely numb to the pain of the spell. Once the spell ended I collapsed to my knees, the ice armor that had been coating my body melting off, making it so that the shallow cuts that were on my body began to bleed sluggishly. Breathing heavily and feeling immensely weak I put a hand on the ground and stood up slowly, groaning from how sore my body was. Yet, even though the beating I had put Djinn through he still looked fine. "What the hell was that?" I asked, sealing my cuts with ice before weakly putting up my hands.

"One of the new spells that I learned, it was pretty nice of Hunter to teach me some pretty powerful spells. No?"

"Hunter taught you them?"

"Oh yea, he also augmented us. That's how we got so strong so quickly."

 _"Alright, so it seems I can't mess around in this fight. Explains how Djinn is as strong as he is."_ I thought and accessed my Second Origin. It was almost like I was reaching inside my magic reserves and opening up a small box at the bottom. Yet the small box held immense amounts of magical power inside. It was pretty rare for a mage to have a Second Origin. Yet I was given mine, courtesy of Hunter. A Third Origin was practically unheard of, although the top four Wizard Saint's, also known as the Four Gods of Ishgar probably had three or more given their power.

As soon as I accessed my Second Origin I could immediately feel the magic energy surge through my body, replenishing my strength and stamina. Standing up straighter and glaring at Djinn I grinned. "Alright. Let's test the limits of your power!" I roared and formed a small ball of ice between my hands and within a couple seconds it went from being about the size of my eye to being bigger than me. Lifting the boulder of ice above my head I pumped a huge amount of magic energy into it and shouted, " **Ice Dragon Meteor!** " Then threw the boulder at Djinn, which impacted him square on and then exploded into a brilliant shower of ice shards, which reflected the sun in a rather brilliant manner. Brushing some of the ice off of my hair I put my hands together and began to prepare another spell if Djinn was still kicking after the last attack.

"Hm, gotta admit. That was a pretty impressive attack." Djinn chuckled as he stood back up, a small shield made up of black wisps around him.

"Damn, you have strong attacks and your defense is impenetrable. I can't believe you got this strong in such a small frame of time."

"Well believe it... Because this power is going to be your **UNDOING** " He yelled and slammed both of his hands into the ground. " **Forbidden Arts: Black Geyser!** " He chanted and a pillar of black magic shot up from under me. Yet this time I was prepared and was able to defend myself easily, casting my Ice Dragon Vanguard and coating myself in ice to ensure I was maximizing my protection, yet there was still cracks appearing in my defense.

 _'Hmm, this magic is truly something. I can't even gauge its power. I'll just have to play it safe.'_ I thought to myself as the spell began to vanish. Leaving me standing there with barely a scratch on me.

"Hm, you're something Neil. I'm surprised you were able to withstand that attack."

"You know me; I don't go down easy. You'll have to throw everything you have at me!" I announced and began to form a small ball of ice between my fists. " **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Formless Oedon, Maelstrom!** " I shouted as the blast of magic erupted forth from the ball of ice and engulfing Djinn who let out a quick scream of pain before going silent. Thinking my opponent was down I cut off the spell and stood up, cracking my neck. "Sheesh Djinn. All talk no bite, eh?" I chuckled and was about to walk into the slight cloud of fog that was made from the attack when my instincts screamed at me to dodge, my Dragon hearing picking up the shifting of gravel to my right. Yet I wasn't fast enough and a fist rocketed inti my chest, breaking a few ribs and forcing all of the air from my lungs. I landed a few feet away, bouncing once as I impacted the ground then rolling until I came to a rest on my chest. "Oh fuck that hurts..." I groaned, trying to force myself into a kneeling position yet my body failed to support any of my weight. Coughing heavily I spit out a glob of blood and glared up at Djinn who had a triumphant look on his face. Again, I tried to summon the strength to stand up but fatigue and such a strenuous use of my magic weighed me down and I was unable to. "So now what Djinn? You beat me."

"Heh, that's easy. I'll kill you." He said rather nonchalantly and raised his hand. I lowered my head in defeat.

 _'so this is how my story ends, huh? I'm sorry Glace, Snow... I've let you down.'_

"Air Impa-!" Djinn was abruptly cut when a bright gold light rocketed into him, interrupting his attacks and sending him rocketing back into what was left of the inn. However, almost instantly after Djinn hit the rubble he began to dig himself out of it. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" He screamed, his voice sounding like it was leaking pure malice

"Names Cayde." The newcomer said, who I had recognized by smell as the man from the other day. "And with that little act you pulled there, you spilt my coffee. So now I'm pissed." Cayde said, although the situation was rather comical he seemed almost as pissed as Djinn is.

"Your mad over your fucking coffee? How fucked up are you?" Djinn said as he prepared an attack.

"Oh, you have no idea..." Cayde replied before putting his hands together. " **Be judged by the seven Heavens! Grand Chariot"** he shouted and all I saw before I passed out was a blinding gold light.

* * *

 _"Wake up my little Dragon. It's time to get up." I heard a soft, and extremely familiar voice call out to me. Sitting up abruptly I looked around, trying to spot the familiar grayish-white scales that I associated with my mother when I saw her, just as I remembered. Regal, Full of pride, and soft blue eyes that locked me with her loving gaze._

 _"Glace?" I asked, more as a question than a statement because I couldn't believe my eyes. "is it really you?"_

 _The Ice Dragon nodded slightly, and that was all the confirmation that I needed to take off running and wrap my arms around her front right leg in an embrace, tears stinging my eyes and running down my face the entire way. "Now, now, Neil. There is no need to cry."_

 _As if her words pulled me back to reality I suddenly realized that I felt no pain. Looking down I saw that my clothes were still in pristine condition. Not even a speck of dust on them. Looking around all I saw was snow, soft and white for as far as I could see. Not a hill or mountain in sight. "Where are we? Why am I here?" I asked, looking at Glace. "How are you here?"_

 _"Well, as your first question. I cannot answer that. Although you will know when the time is right. For your second, you have died, yet have not yet passed. And for the third... Well. That's also complicated." She said, dipping her head a little as if she wanted to tell me but couldn't._

 _"Why did you leave me?" I asked, sitting down in the snow and balling some in my first before I threw it in a random direction. Why did you leave me in X777?"_

 _The Ice Dragon sighed lightly before wrapping her tail around my and pulling me toward her stomach like she used to when she was about to tell me a story. "Neil. You don't know how much I want to answer all of your questions right now. To be able to see you for real again. Buy I just can't, and will never be able to Neil if you don't wake up."_

 _"What do you mean Glace? Will I ever get to see you again?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly as tears began to yet again threaten my vision. And all at once I felt like a child again, lightly clinging to Glace's tail and asking her if she would ever leave me. Then, as if it were a dream the image to Glace began to become more and more transparent. As if she were disappearing, and the dreams Cape around me began to crumble._

 _"You will know everything in due time, little one. Just keep on living for me, okay?" She said, a single year escaping from her blue eyes and falling softly into the snow. "Now, wake up." She said softly and nuzzled me softly._

 _"But there's still so much catching up we need to do! So much questions I have to ask! So much more you need to teach me!" I cried and tried to hold onto her tail so I wouldn't lose my only family after I had just got them back. But it disappeared in my hands, fading away like a distant memory. I looked up again and Glace was gone, replaced by a bright, white light._

 ** _A/N_**

 **Well. This chapter was out quite a bit before I expected it to be. It was a pretty fun one to write so that may be why. I hope I was able to bring out the sheer distaste that Djinn has for Neil through the fight they had, and I hope that you liked the fight as well. Sorry about the short chapter as well. But ending it there just felt... Right. Those who have gotten far enough in the anime will know what Glace is talking about but other than that I'm not going to say anything else in case of spoilers. Also, for those of you wondering how powerful Neil and Snow are I shall tell you!**

 **Neil is around Laxus in terms of power, yet has lower stamina as he isn't the most fit from living in a mountain. Yet he is very strong magically. As Erza had outlined as when he was hiding his signature she could barely detect it.**

 **As for Snow she is definetly stronger than Laxus. She has the power and stamina to back up her impressive amounts of magic. That is why she was able to beat Jinn so quickly in their fight, as he would be around where Djinn is in terms of power.**

 **Also, thank you to Guest and guest for the reviews and I hope you continue to enjoy!**

 **Well, this authors note has gone on longer than I anticipated, so make sure to point out any mistake I made and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Neil!"

'Huh? Is that Snow?' I thought as I began to slowly start regaining consciousness from my quite literally. Deathly experience.

"It looks like he is starting to come to Snow." A voice I recognized said, was her name Erza?

"Oh thank god!" She exclaimed and I felt hands grab both of my shoulders and, much to my annoyance. Begin shaking me. "Hey Neil! Wake up!"

"Honestly, Snow." I groaned as I slowly crept open my eyelids. My eyes coming to a rest on Snow's face. "You really shouldn't shake me right now. I'm really sore."

She just gave me a beaming smile and wrapped me up in a bone crushing hug. Like honestly, she was crushing my bones. Well, the ones that _weren't_ broken. "I'm glad you're okay," she said as she pulled away from the one sided embrace. Me still being too sore to really move much.

"Yea, I can tell." I groaned.

"Yes, it's good that you've came to. Snow here was pretty worried about you for a while there." Erza added in as she moved to sit down and lean against the now demolished inn.

"Me? Worried? Pfft. I know Neil is strong enough to survive whatever Djinn had to throw at him." She replied then locked gaze's with me, her grey eyes boring into me, almost as if looking into my soul.

"Yea." I said, pulling my eyes away from her steady gaze. "It wasn't that bad of a fight. He just got a lucky hit on me." I chuckled lightly then smiled up at Snow. "Nothing more!"

Snow pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me for a couple seconds as if she saw through my lie and then smiled back. "Yea, Djinn's a real pushover isn't he?" She replied and threw her arms around me, wrapping me in yet another tight embrace. Much to my chagrin. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, you hear?"

"Yes, Snow."

"Promise me you won't do anything reckless."

I sighed lightly, then returned her embrace. My arms slowly and sorely creeping around her sides to squeeze her back. "I promise." _'One of these days you may need to learn to fight without me. Snow. Please don't let it break you.'_

"Well. Now that you guys have had you're reunion." Erza said and pointed a recently re-quipped sword at us and hardening her face. "You two have some very serious questions that need answering."

It was at that point that one of the Fairy Tail members, Lucy spoke up. "Erza! You can't just point a sword at them and demand answers! That's not how we do it!"

"I'll do what I deem right Lucy. These two are from one of the most dangerous Dark Guild's out there." She replied, glancing at Lucy and then re-shifting her gaze to us. "There is so many things that are unknown about Midnight Stone that the guilds and council are all but powerless against them. The most we really know is their guild mark and the fact that they are arguably the strongest of the Balam Alliance. We need answers."

Lucy opened her mouth, looking like she was about to retort but shut her mouth and sauntered back over to where Natsu, Grey and the cat thing were sitting. All four looking at Erza with scrutinizing gazes.

"You probably don't want to do that Erza." Snow said, brushing the tip of her sword aside. "After all. We are as dangerous as the rumors say, and you probably don't want to fight two of it's strongest guildmembers."

"Oh really?" Erza replied, a smirk on her lips. "I don't know if I believe that or not."

"Let's have a wager then. We fight, if I win. We get off the hook without questioning and go on out way. But, if you win then you get all the answers to all the questions you want." Snow said, face neutral.

"Deal, we'll do it right now. Not like Clover can get much more ruined anyway."

"Awww! Why does Erza get to fight and not me?" I heard Natsu complain, sitting down with his arms crossed.

"Because Flame Brain. Erza is much more powerful than you are and actually has a chance at winning against Snow." Grey replied as he watched the two young woman face eachother, each nodding slightly to the other.

"Besides. It's not everyday we get to see Erza go all out on an opponent anyway." Lucy added and caused Natsu to give up his argument.

"Then just make sure you don't lose Erza! You hear?" Natsu yelled while pumping a fist in the air.

"I don't plan on it Natsu." Erza replied with an air of confidence in her voice that made me grin slightly _'Oh, she doesn't know how wrong she is.'_

* * *

 _/_ **Snow** \

I grinned lightly at the small banter that was going on between the members of Fairy Tail. It almost made me miss Midnight Stone. _Almost_. It would hopefully be a long time before I set a foot back in that guildhall.

"I hope you're ready Erza! I won't be going easy on you!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." the scarlet haired mage replied as she was enveloped in golden light.

 _'Hm, it seems the stories of the great Titania Erza were true. I've never seen a requip mage change armors so fast.'_

The armor that Erza had requiped to was almost borderline indecent exposure with the amount of skin she was showing off. The breastplate of the armor had a cheetah design to it. Instantly leading me to think that the armor enhanced her speed to some degree. Her left arm was protected by more of the cheetah patterned armor. Even sporting a pauldron on her shoulder. Her right arm not having the same protection. Her legs were adorned with blue stockings that went up to her knees. Again her left leg had heavier armor on it than her right did. Leading me to believe that she would be giving me her left side more than her right when she was attacking. On her neck was what looked like a fur collar and almost as if to complete the cheetah look the armor was going for she had a pair of ears on her head. She carried a straight sword in each hand.

"I have seen you fight before and noticed that you are very light on your feet." Erza said as she lowered herself into a battle stance. "So lets see if you can keep up with me!"

Like a flash the requip mage was moving, almost too fast to see. I had to quickly make two swords from ice to block her dual swords that slammed into my own with almost enough force to shatter the hastily constructed blades with ease.

"You are fast. I'll give you that." I grunted as I shifted my weight so Erza's blades would slide off my own. "Just not fast enough for me!" I taunted as Erza began to rapidly move around the battlefield, swords continuously slamming into my own as she tried to break my guard.

"I don't have to be!" Erza shot back as there was a flash of golden light and a spiked black sword slammed into my own, breaking them and sending me flying back from blocking the over sized weapon.

I let out a light groan and stood back up, wiping the dirt off of my coat. "Dammit. Was not expecting that." I sighed and looked up at Erza who was still wearing her cheetah themed armor but instead of her dual swords she had a single, huge sword resting on the ground. She didn't even look phased by our short skirmish. "Well. I guess its my turn to get serious." I said and raised a hand towards the sky. " **Ice God Javelin!** " I yelled as a javelin made of black ice formed in my hand. "Let's see if you can dodge this!" I said and threw the javelin towards her at near blinding speeds. Yet instead of the red haired girl trying to dodge it like I had originally hoped, she requipped armors yet again into one that was blue and prominently spiky and she hefted two large shields at her sides. I saw a small smirk ghost on her lips and she slammed the shields together in defense. Mere moments after the javelin impacted the shield with a loud boom, kicking up dust and disturbing some of the debris littering the ground. When the dust began to clear I stood valiantly, expecting to have won as the javelin was one of my more powerful attacks I had in my arsenal. However what I was not expecting was for the requip mage to still be standing there, barely a scratch on her and only breathing slightly heavy. Her armor being replaced yet again by silver armor with the Heart Kruz symbol on the front.

"How did you weather that attack?" I asked, mouth slightly agape as she smiled, her fellow Fairy Tail members cheering her on from the sidelines.

"My adamantine armor is very powerful. While I admit your attack was more powerful than I had expected, it has weathered much worse."

"Hmm, you're one of the most versatile fighters I have ever fought. With exception to Neil, of course. When I'm not beating his ass." I saw Neil smirk out of the corner of my eye and I smiled at him. "It's a good thing I have _alot_ more tricks up my sleeve." I said and raised my hands in the air. " **Ice God Arrow Storm!** " I roared as hundreds of solid black ice arrows appeared above me, the sunlight glinting off their tips. Making it hard to count how many there actually were. "Let's see you block this!" I yelled and threw my hands forward, the arrows streaking towards Erza, although she had yet again switched armors. This time to a silver one with the metal molded into feather like designs.

"I have tricks up my sleeve as well." She said and summoned swords that rushed to meet my arrows.

I smiled lightly, _'I've heard of the Heavens Wheel armor. I was wondering when you would pull it out. Heh, you've fallen into my trap.'_ I clapped my hands together and with a simple movement of my hands, parted the rain of arrows around Erza's swords and sent them flying unopposed right towards the requip mage. Who was too surprised to even switch to a more defensible armor and took the massive attack head on. There was a small explosion as all of the arrows collided with Erza simultaneously, sending a small gust of air towards me that slightly ruffled my hair. _'There's no way that put her down. I need to stay on guard.'_ I thought as my eyes scanned the dust cloud. Looking for any signs of movement from within.

"Hm, impressive." Erza praised as she emerged almost like a ghost from the dust cloud. Hair billowing around her. "I was not expecting you to be able to control you're ice like that. You are a very talented mage."

"I should say the same for you. There's not many that are able to weather that attack as easily as you did. I must admit that I underestimated your power." I replied as I looked over the new armor set that she had donned. "Hm, i've heard of that armor of yours. It maximizes your attack power. Yes?"

"It seems you've done your homework. That would be correct." She replied and leveled her two katanas at her side as a small gust of wind ruffled her flame patterned pants. "I have not lost to anyone while wearing this armor. I don't expect to lose to you."

"I guess i'll be the judge of that won't I?" I laughed and narrowed my gray eyes at her. "I don't expect to lost either, Scarlet." I said and formed a large black bow in my left hand along with four arrows in my right. " **God** **Slayer Secret Art: Artemis Bow!** " I roared as I nocked the four arrows and pulled the string back to my cheek. I released the arrows with a loud _thwack_ from the bowstring.

Erza just stood in place, watching the arrows with a neutral expression. I was about to fire another set when she cut through all four of the icy arrows and began to run at me. Not seeing another time to release a second set of arrows I discarded the bow and arrows and brought my hands up to my mouth.

" **Ice God Bellow!** " I roared as a large column of magic burst from my mouth, the breath attack hitting the surprised red head dead on.

"I definitely underestimated you Snow." Erza said as she slowly pulled herself off the ground. "You are one of the strongest mages i've ever had the privilege of fighting." She praised and requipped into large, black armor that was adorned with a plethora of spikes. The next thing I noticed was the sword. Oh my god the sword was HUGE.

I paled lightly at the sight of the sword, realizing that it was the one I had been hit with before.

"I haven't lost to anyone while wearing this armor. And I don't intend to lose to you!" Erza yelled and kicked off the ground, sword poised to strike.

I raised my hand and hastily erected a shield, using as much energy as I dared to strengthen it. I definitely wasn't expecting the large sword to cut through it like butter. Letting out a small yelp I rolled to the side to avoid the blow. I blocked the next couple of swings from her sword with swords of my own before they broke from the constant punishment. _'I need to put some distance between us, she's at her strongest when I'm within range of her sword._ ' I thought as I danced around her sword and delivered a hard punch from my ice-encrusted fist that sent her sliding back a couple feet.

"Why are you holding back on me Snow?" Erza asked, raising her sword.

The question caught me off guard. "What do you mean?" I replied, my voice barely a whisper as I raised my fists.

"You're only using a fraction of the magic power that I sense in you."

"I could have taken you out in the first couple seconds of the fight if I went all out on you."

"Then why didn't you?"

I sighed lightly and dropped my hands to my side. "Because I at least wanted to give you guys a chance at winning. I don't want to give you any serious injuries either."

"Don't worry about it. Wizards of Fairy Tail are hardy. I'm sure I can handle it."

"Don't say I didn't warn you..." I murmured and activated my Second Origin, almost instantly feeling the magic energy seep through my body. " **Ice God Fist!** " I yelled, lunging at a very surprised Erza and punched her with all my force, shattering the armor she was wearing and sending her skidding across the ground,

"Good enough for you?" I asked, letting my magic energy flow out of me and frost over the dirt beneath my feet. I was sure I broke more than a few bones with that punch.

I heard a small groan and Erza slowly sat up, not letting any amount of pain show on her face. To say I admired her conviction would be an understatement. "I'm not happy to admit it." She she grumbled and coughed. I couldn't help but notice the blood that appeared on her now bare hand. "But I'm no match for you, Snow. I asked for you to use your full power and paid the price for it. I yield." She said and bowed as much as she could with her probably broken ribs.

I walked up to the scarlet haired woman and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, there's no need to bow to me. You fought excellent. Not any normal person could survive a hit from that."

"The praise means much from a wizard of your caliber."

"Ah, no need to feel inferior to me Erza," I said, waving her comment off.

"Hey Snow!" I turned to look at the voice, finding that it belonged to Natsu.

"Yes, Natsu?"

"It's my turn to fight now!" He said, lighting his fist on fire. "Don't go easy on me because I won't hold back!"

I raised an eyebrow at him, and heard Neil chuckle from behind me. "Alright then Natsu, give me your best shot." I said and put my fists up.

The Fire Dragon Slayer responded by running at me, his flaming fist raised. " **Fire Dragon Iron Fi-AHH** " He yelped as I grabbed his head and flung him head first into the ground, snuffing out his flame.

"Rule number one. A full frontal assault is in no way the best strategy unless you know you can overpower your opponent." I lectured as I sidestepped his fist again and swept his feet out from under him. "Rule number two: Don't fight an opponent you know outmatches you. And rule number three," I said, grabbing his reignited fist and froze over his hand. "My ice beats fire." I smiled and let go of the surprised Dragon Slayers hand. "You have much to learn Natsu. But I'm sure you will grow much stronger in due time."

"Wow! She can take Natsu out almost easier than Erza can!" I heard Happy state.

"Yea, but Erza definitely has the scare factor about her. Snow just has the raw power." Gray added, "I don't think my ice could ever beat hers."

"I don't know about you two, but I'm pretty scared of her! Have you forgotten that she's part of a dark guild?"

"Don't worry about us Lucy. If we wanted you guys dead, trust me you would be dead already."

"That doesn't help my fears at all!" She said, visibly deflating.

I chuckled lightly and looked over at Neil who also had a smile on his face. Those mages are definitely one of a kind.

* * *

 **Sorry Sorry Sorry for the wait! School, as always has been kicking my ass and I barely get any free time to myself. I'm just barely finishing this now before we go on Easter holidays.**

 **Anyway, tell me what you think of the chapter. I'm not super happy to it, to be honest one of the reasons it took so long was because it just felt like I was just barely grinding through it. It's definitely not my best work.**

 **Also, just gonna say this right now. No, Neil and Snow will not be joining Fairy Tail. They will be going their own ways as I have other things planned for them. But that's not to say they won't be crossing paths time to time.**

 **You also got a small showcase of what Snow is capable of. Please tell me if she seems way too strong, as I don't want Neil and Snow to seem like those extremely overpowered characters. So let me know if it needs to be toned down a notch and I will be happy to oblige.**

 **Anyway, hope you guys have a Happy Easter and a good Easter Holidays!**

 **Reminder: I do keep a counter on how far along I am for the chapter on my profile, along with a couple other things relating to the chapter, so check it out if you are wondering.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **A/N**

 **Hello and welcome to the next chapter of Shrouded by Darkness! I actually got this out faster than usual! Yay!**

 **Now, before I had been Pming people, thanking them for following and favoriting. But i've decided that I'm just going to do it in the authors note from now on, that way. I guess you know that I actually appreciate it. Haha.**

 **So, I would like to thank the newest follow/favs. (That I haven't thanked yet. I think)**

 **Bearticguy7, Zaconator and Zackis, Dragonlorerd6 and AgentA910! I'm sorry if I missed someone. I'm really bad at keeping track of these things. Just... Message me and use caps lock or something, haha. I'll put you in the next one for sure!**

 **/**?\

" _We should probably notify Brain that the two mages that are on their way are no longer part of Midnight."I said, the old chair I was sitting in letting out a loud creak in protest as I leaned back._

" _But they are, technically. They still have their guildmark."_

" _Yes but how will Brain know he is about to get stabbed in the back? We need to get to Nirvana just as much as the Oracion Seis does. If Snow and Neil eliminate the guild before they can awaken it then all of our plans will be for nothing!" I argued._

" _We must be patient. Those two are very smart and will know somethings up if we go too fast. We must plan our moves correctly."_

" _They probably already know somethings up! We sent the Genie's after them for fuck's sake!"_

" _That's quite enough. No need to make a scene."_

" _Then use your fucking head old man!" I shouted, slamming a fist down on the table. "If you let those two operate unhindered then everything we have built up is going to collapse around us. You can't expect them to stay tight lipped for long."_

" _I know Neil. He's loyal to me and always will be."_

" _Yea? I know Neil as well. And I know for a fact that he doesn't give a damn about loyalty when your involved. In fact. I bet he'll jump at the first opportunity to sell us out." I took a deep breath, sitting back down. "We leave them be. We lose."_

" _Then what do you propose I do?"_

" _Let me handle it, I can go out there right now and find some mages willing to take care of them."_

" _You will not harm Neil. I don't care about the girl the Neil must be brought back to me. If I can regain his loyalty again a slayer of his caliber will turn he tide of any battle."_

" _Excellent. I'll go to the practice hall now. I'm sure Shade will jump at the opportunity for a rematch."_

" _You are dismissed, Gor. I look forward to your updates."_

/Neil\

"Well, you two should be off. I lost the wager so I will not ask anything of you." Erza said as she slightly inclined her head in farewell, a disgruntled Natsu still clutching his frozen hand stood behind her with his cat, Happy. Who was actively trying to comfort him.

"Thank you. Erza. I would love to answer some of your questions but... It's still too dangerous for us. Maybe one day we can have a full conversation and not be worried what we let slip." Snow replied, smiling brightly at Erza.

"Yes, it's one thing to fight Midnight members outside of the guild. But it's quite another to spill the secrets." I added.

"I understand. Maybe we will see eachother again?"

"Oh I'm sure we will. Maybe sooner than you realize." I chuckled, the small act causing a mild amount of pain to snake up my abdomen. "Anyway. We must be off, may our paths cross again soon." I said, bowing my head slightly, Snow doing the same.

"We should have let them ask us questions." I said, looking over at Snow who was walking alongside me.

"That would have not been a smart idea. And you know that."

"Why, Snow?" I said throwing my hands up in the air. "We're being hunted already! What does it matter?"

"Because, Neil!" She shouted out, grabbing my shoulders. "You know what happened to the last person that spilled about Midnight!"

I grimaced lightly at the thought. The sight of the relentlessly beaten and broken man hanging from the ceiling surfacing at the forefront of my thoughts. I had nightmares for weeks after that.

"If that ever happened to you..." Snow said, her voice growing distant. "Just don't let it happen to you." She released my shoulders and took a step back. "There will be a time where we will be able to get back at Hunter. But now is not that time." She spoke softly, yet her eyes spoke the complete opposite. Burning with a fiery intensity.

"I understand. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Well. At least somethings never change." She chuckled lightly and grabbed my hand. "Now come on. I'm sure Sorano just can't wait to see me again!"

"Didn't she threaten you with death last time?"

"Empty threats, Neil." She giggled and lightly tugged on my hand. "Let's not keep them waiting, shall we?"

"You two are late." Brain growled, staring down at both of us.

"We are sorry Master Brain," Snow replied curtly, bowing her head slightly. "We were held up in Clover Town. A group of Fairy Tail mages showed up and recognized the mark. We had to fight ourselves out."

"Hm, you should have killed them." Cobra said boredly. "Would have saved us some trouble."

"Our orders were to assist you in awakening Nirvana. Not to eliminate the Fairies, Erik." Snow smirked, knowing the members of the Oracion Seis hated to be called by their true names. And instead they much preferred to be referred to by their codenames.

"Hm, I would have jumped at the chance to clip the wings of some fairies." Angel said boredly, twirling a silver key between her fingers. "Oh, and it's nice to see you again, Neil." She added, giving me a rather suggestive smile.

"Can't say I can return the enthusiasm." I replied dryly, crossing my arms.

"Don't be so cold, you don't know what you're missing" She smirked, running a hand down her left side.

"You'd best keep your mouth shut, or i'll rip that tongue out of that pretty mouth of yours!" Snow snarled, grabbing onto my forearm.

"That's enough from the both of you!" Bran burst out, slamming his staff on the ground. "As much as I would like to see both of you fight it out, now is not the time."

Angel let out a small 'harrumph' and stalked out of the cave we were in.

"Now, to pick off from when we were interrupted." Brain began, flashing a look at Cobra. "We need to go over your part in the plan. Everything must be executed smoothly for this mission to be a success."

"I still don't understand why we needed Midnight's help in the first place. We're more than capable of taking out the light guilds by ourselves."

"You should give us more credit Sawyer. I'm sure I could beat you with one arm tied behind my back!" Snow said, smiling sweetly at Racer.

"Oh yea? You could never match my speed!"

"ENOUGH!" Brain roared. "We will never achieve our goals without the help of Midnight's mages. Whether any of you like it or not! Save your petty squabbles for later."

"You would be best to listen to father." Midnight called out from where he was sitting on his carpet, eyes still closed. "They are strong, possibly more so than we are."

I glanced over at Midnight, who was positioned in the corner of the cave. While I wouldn't admit it out loud. The young man scared me. _Alot_.

"Thank you, Midnight." Brain said, and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Now, as I was about to say. We are going to need you two to hold off the light guild mages for a long as possible. It is absolutely imperative. We cannot defeat all of them alone if they have not been worn down somewhat."

"Is that everything? I would have hoped for a challenge."

"They have a wizard saint with them. It would be wise to not underestimate them. I will have Racer and Cobra on standby should you need backup."

"It would be wise you not underestimate us, Brain" Snow said, and evil glint in her eyes. "Trust me. We can give you the time you need, just stay out of our way."

Brain stared down Snow for a couple seconds before shifting his gaze to me. "I trust you will not appoint. Hunter spoke highly of you both."

I grinned wickedly, making sure to show my canines. "Just tell us when to get started, we'll put on a good show."

I watched as the twelve mages stepped into the small clearing, seemingly unaware of Snow and I, who were looming in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. Waiting for the signal to strike.

"What was the signal again?" I whispered to Snow, not taking my eyes off the mages.

"Brain never said. He just mentioned that we would know what it was."

"Are you sure we can do this? I mean, the Fairy Tail mages trust us. It would set us back a whole lot farther if we were to just attack them like this."

"I know." Snow replied, her voice shaking. "I know this seems wrong but the Oracion Seis _has_ to trust us. It's the only way we can destroy Nirvana with no opposition."

"I know... It just makes me sick." I laughed softly. "It's funny. A few days ago I wouldn't have thought twice about killing most of these mages. But now... It's different."

Snow nodded in response, although it was so subtle I could barely see it.

I was about to speak again when there was a loud explosion. I looked up to see Blue Pegasus's magical bomber, which I believe was dubbed ' _Christina'_ falling from the sky, a large plume of black smoke escaping from its hull. The bomber crashed deeper in the forest and exploded loudly, sending a burst of wind that slightly ruffled my hair.

"I take it that's our cue?" I asked as my heart began to pound violently in my chest.

"Good as any." Snow replied and began to walk into the clearing with me following close behind.

As we emerged from the bushes most of the mages adopted battle stances, with the exception of the Fairy Tail mages who smiled warmly when we approached.

"Hey guys! What a great time for you to show up!" Natsu called out happily, holding up a hand in greeting.

"Hello, Natsu." I replied, trying to keep my voice from shaking. _'Stay cool, Neil.'_

Natsu began to walk up to us when Jura grabbed his arm, holding the Dragon Slayer back.

"That would be very unwise, Natsu." Jura growled, his eyes focused on my neck where my guildmark was uncovered. "These mages are part of Midnight."

Most of the mages let out a gasp, while one of the mages from Blue Pegasus. I believe his name was Ichiya. Struck a ridiculous pose and yelled "Man!"

"Nah it's fine Jura! These guys are cool!" Natsu replied and tried to pry Jura's hand off. But the man held on with an iron grip.

"Actually, Natsu." Snow said, grinning evily. "You should listen to Mr. Neekis."

"You Fairie's trust too easily. It will be your downfall someday." I chuckled, trying to force away the hurt look that I know was showing in my eyes. Betraying my words.

"You **monsters!** " Erza roared, requipping to her Purgatory Armor, "I may not have known you for long but I trusted you as friends."

I flinched lightly at the hurt that was evident in her voice. _'It doesn't have to be this way'_ Snow must have sensed my feelings because she grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as if to say. _'We can make it through this together'_ I squeezed back.

' _I know.'_

 **A/N**

 **I honestly don't really know what to think about this chapter. There was some parts that were hard as hell to write and some that were easy. (Sorry about the cliffhanger.) I really hope that I was able to perfectly get across the bond that Snow and Neil are developing, it's going to be majorly important.**

 **Mostly it was hard to write the canon characters. I try not to stray too out of character but I think it might be necessary. I just really don't know how some of the canon characters would react to some of the situations. Anyway. Next chapter is probably going to take quite a while, or it may not. Depending on how things roll. Make sure to tell me what needs changing as there is most likely a couple things that could be done better. Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **Thank you to TheMAOlegend, Jc970000 and Michael1357 for their follows/ favorites!**

/Neil\

"How could you do this?" Natsu roared, covering both of his hands in glowing orange flames.

"We have our own agenda." Snow replied, gripping my hand tighter. "You were only a bump in the road."

"What do you have to gain from betraying us?" Erza asked, hefting her large sword over her shoulder and lowering herself into a battle stance.

"Everything." I replied quietly, but just loud enough for the other mages to hear.

"Besides we're only supposed to be the distraction." Snow stated and then innocently covered her mouth with some of her fingers. "Oops. Wasn't supposed to say that."

"Good going, Snow." I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, letting go of her hand. "Look, the Oracion Seis is preparing to awaken Nirvana. _If_ they have everything prepared."

"Well then what are we waiting for? If they are just a distraction then let's beat them and get on with the mission. They don't look that tough anyway." A white haired man said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"That would be unwise, Leon." Jura said, his eyes still studying us. These two wizards are very powerful."

I grinned widely at the compliment. "Well it's nice to be recognized by a wizard of your caliber." I smiled "Too bad you'll be dead soon." I added and began to study my nails.

"Yes, it would be very unwise to underestimate them." A boy, who I believe was named Hibiki cut in. "There is little to nothing on Midnight Stone in Archive. And what is there is very bare bones."

"Any information would help."

"Their master is unknown. Second in command is unknown. They have a tournament to decide the three strongest mages in the guild. Their identities are also unknown."

"Both Neil and Snow mentioned that they were two of the strongest." Erza but in.

"Noted," Hibiki replied. "They are also the DE-facto rulers of the Balam Alliance. Pegging them as extremely dangerous."

"Is that everything?" Jura asked, seemingly surprised.

"Yes," Hibiki admitted and canceled his magic. "It believe it would be best if we avoid the fight with them,"

"You know that we are right here, right?" Snow growled, frost snaking from her eyes and running down her shoulders like a deep fog. "For wanting to fight us so much you're doing a lot of talking."

"There's no way you could avoid the fight with us." I added, my eyes doing the same as Snow's.

"They're right." Erza said, "I've seen them fight, and fought one of them." She stated, her eyes flicking over to Snow. "It would be stupid to try and run, it would only make us vulnerable."

"So what do you suggest? Man!" Ichiya asked, twirling on one leg.

"That some of us stay behind to buy the group time. If what they said is true we can't waste time fighting them. We need to stop Nirvana." Erza motioned to Natsu and Jura. "Us three can stay behind. The rest of you should go."

"Thanks for the vote, Erza." Natsu growled and cracked his knuckles. "I'm gonna pound these two to a bloody pulp!"

"The rest of you should go! Now!" Erza shouted and the unmentioned mage's broke off, most likely heading towards the site where Nirvana was located.

"I can take Natsu and Erza. A single opponent will be easier, since you're still recovering." Snow observed, dropping into a battle stance.

"Nonsense," I replied. "Jura could probably match the two of them easily. It would be best if I fought Erza and Natsu. Leave the heavy lifting to you."

Snow looked at me, her eyes distant as if she were trying to calculate the outcomes of each fight.

"Fine." She sighed, "Just don't overexert yourself."

"I won't," I assured her and, steeling myself for a battle I walked past Snow and stopped a couple yards from the two Fairy Tail mages, trying my best to match their glares. "I'm sorry." I said softly, activating my magic. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. The feeling of fear and regret washing over me. But, steeling myself I grit my teeth and dropped into a battle stance.

" _Glace, I-I'm scared!" I squeaked, hugging my small arms close to my body as I stepped away from the frozen edge of the cliff._

" _Now why is that little one," She spoke softly, nuzzling me lightly with her large snout._

" _It's a long drop. A-and I'm not sure that I can do it!"_

" _Why, don't you trust in yourself?"_

" _Well I do but... It's just scary." I mumbled sheepishly, hanging my head._

" _It's alright to be scared, Neil." She rumbled and wrapped her tail around me protectively. "But it's what we do with that fear that makes us powerful."_

" _Have you ever been scared, Glace?"_

" _I can think of a couple times."_

" _So even dragons can get scared sometimes, huh."_

" _Yes, we can." she chuckled, the powerful gusts that were released from her nostrils disturbed the snow and send it whirling around us._

" _So. What did you do when you were scared?"_

" _I faced my fears. My mother always told me that conquering your fear is the first step in being a more powerful dragon."_

" _But how can I conquer my fear if I don't know what it is?" I asked, putting a finger on my chin in thought._

" _Well, are you scared of looking over the cliff, or jumping off of it?"_

" _Neither, it's that I don't know if I can catch myself with my magic before I hit the ground."_

" _But I will be there to catch you. You know I wouldn't let you fall if you fail."_

" _I know, and I trust you. But maybe I'm just scared of letting you down."_

" _Ah so you fear not getting acceptance maybe."_

" _Acceptance?"_

" _Yes. Are you scared that I would think less of you if you fail?"_

 _I didn't answer, instead I looked down at my lap._

" _Hmmm," Glace hummed, looking down at me with warm eyes. "Now my little dragon. Failure is part of the path of learning. You must fail to succeed."_

" _Yes... You've told me that before."_

" _Then why are you scared that I would be mad?"_

" _Well. You've trained me so hard and been so kind to me Glace... I just don't want to fail you."_

" _You could never fail me little one. You can make me mad, and you can make me irritated. But you would never seem like a failure to me."_

" _Thanks Glace."_

" _You are very welcome little one. Now, shall we continue with our day?"_

" _Of course!"_

/Neil\

I narrowly dodged the sword, bending backwards so it sailed over my head.

" **Fire Dragon Wing Attack!** " Natsu announced, the twin whips of flame emerging from his hands before they rushed towards me.

" **Ice Dragon Vanguard!** " I yelled, the ice quickly forming. The flames crashing against it.

" **Blumenblatt!** " Erza roared, now in her Heaven's Wheel armor and I rolled forward to dodge the incoming swords.

" **Ice Dragon Meteor!** " I countered and threw a small ball of of ice towards Erza. Although the hastily thrown attack missed.

"Jeez you two just don't let up!" I laughed and danced around another one of Erza's swords. " **Ice Dragon Claw!** " I announced and planted a hard roundhouse kick into Erza's chest. Taking her off her feet and throwing her back a couple feet.

" **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!** " Natsu roared from behind me and I twisted sideways. Dodging the attack.

"If you're gonna try to sneak up on someone Natsu. Don't announce the attack!" I chuckled and tapped my foot on the ground. A ice-blue magic circle appearing under Natsu and a blunted ice spike blasted from it, sending the Dragon Slayer into the air.

I looked back to where Erza was only to see a flash of red hair before she dropped her shoulder and slammed into me.

I grunted loudly, saliva flying from my mouth as I felt my feet leave the ground for a couple seconds before I impacted the ground roughly, forcing the remaining air I had out from my lungs in a loud gasp.

"Ohhh that one hurt." I groaned and coughed loudly in my hand as I got up. "I think you broke something with that hit."

"I could say the same thing," Erza replied, clutching the side where I had kicked her. "You hit almost as hard as Snow."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, planting her sword in the ground, her breaths heavy.

"I cannot tell you. Not now, anyway." I said, only just realizing how heavy I was breathing as well. My wounds from the fight with Djinn were beginning to send throbs of pain through my body.

"I just don't understand... At Clover you didn't seem to have a speck of evil in you. So why are you choosing to fight us? Join us!"

"It isn't that easy Erza. Once you're a part of Midnight you'll always be a part of Midnight. No matter what happens. It's a past that will haunt me forever."

"But we can help! We're your friends Neil! That's what friends do!"

I looked over to where Snow was fighting Jura, they had both stopped their attacks and were now looking at the exchange. Snow was breathing heavily but she had a twinkle in her eye. I could tell she was having fun. I met her gaze, her gray orbs meeting mine. I could tell that she didn't want to fight them. But we both new what had to be done.

Looking back to Erza I couldn't help but notice that Natsu hadn't joined her, but after a quick scan around the area I found him lying on the ground, unconscious. I must have hit him harder than I thought.

"You can't help us Erza. We do what we have to." I spoke, releasing some of my magic. "So are you going to stand there? Or are you going to fight me!" I roared in challenge.

Surprise briefly crossed the scarlet mage's face before she requipped back into her Purgatory Armor.

"I accept your challenge, but now I'm done holding back." She said darkly and charged. I smiled and met the charge head on.

/Snow\

"So you're a wizard saint." I stated, smirking lightly. "It's going to be fun fighting a wizard as strong as you."

Jura grunted in response, I could tell by his rigid stance that he was wary of fighting me.

"Scared?" I chuckled.

"I've heard many stories about Midnight Stone. Most of them have involved no mercy. You could have attacked us when we were vulnerable but you didn't it just makes me curious."

"Me and Neil prefer the flashy approach to things. Besides we don't like Oracion Seis any more than you do. So it doesn't mind me that we let everyone else go."

"When why do you help them?"

"Midnight has their own agenda and we have ours." I replied, stretching my back. "Now are we going to just stand here or are we actually going to fight?"

"I would have expected you to attack already."

"And why's that?"

"Dark Guild's usually like to throw the first punch."

"I like to gauge my opponents strength. Throwing the first punch is going to let them get a gauge on my strength first."

"Smart."

"Now, I'm not one for small talk. So if you _don't_ throw the first punch I guess i'll be forced to."

"Go ahead."

"Hm, gladly." I grinned and summoned a javelin in my hand. " **Ice God Javelin!** " I bellowed and threw the javelin with all the might I could muster. The black object threw through the air with a deadly whistle.

" **Iron Rock Wall** " Jura countered and a wall appeared before him. The javelin impacted the wall with a mighty _boom._ Creating a small shockwave.

"Hm, impressive. I didn't expect your shield to hold up against that." I observed as the small bit of dust cleared from the area, leaving behind the unscathed Wizard Saint.

"I gained the title of Wizard Saint for a reason. I won't be a pushover."

"Never expected you to be." I replied and slammed my fist into the ground. " **Ice God Spearwall!** " I chanted, dozens of black-ice spears appearing behind me and, with a small hand movement they all rocketed towards Jura, me following the path of the spears close behind.

The spears slammed into Jura's protective barrier again, although this time when it was weakened I slammed my fists into it. Shattering the rock and barreling through the opening. " **Ice God Bellow!** " I shouted, releasing the breath attack.

However, Jura. The surprisingly nimble man he was danced around the attack and slammed a very accurately aimed fist into my sternum. Forcing the air from my lungs with a very audible cracking of my ribs and sending me back through the hole I had made in the barrier.

"Ack... _Fuck!_ " I cursed, breathing heavily to regain the breath I had lost.

"I'm surprised you're still conscious after that attack. Not many people are."

"Well. I've definitely felt worse pain than this." I groaned through clenched teeth. _'Damn Jura can hit hard. Title of Wizard Saint well deserved!_ '

"You should just surrender. I'll promise to make sure the council doesn't do anything too harmful to you."

"Hah. Fat fucking luck at that." I answered and put a hand on my chest. There was a slight glow that emanated from under my hand. My magic working inside to mend my bones back together. It was a temporary fix but a fix none the less.

"And why is that?"

"I'm part of one of the most dangerous dark guilds to ever live. Some of the thing's iv'e done to people would make people like you tremble."

"Hm." Jura answered and thrust his hand forward.

I quickly rolled to the left, avoiding the pillar that shot from the ground and threw my own attack at Jura in a retaliation. Although he dodged it without much problem.

"For such a large man you're pretty fucking dexterous. You know that right?"

"Some have commented on that, yes." He smirked, thrusting his hands forward again. " **Iron Rock Fist!** " He shouted and the attack burst from his hands.

 _'Time to really get a measure on your power'_ I smiled lightly. " **Ice God Shield Wall!** " I roared and a wall made from interlocking shields made from my ice appeared in front of me. Seven shields wide and three shields tall.

I both heard and felt the attack crash against the barrier. I felt myself strain slightly trying to hold the attack back. Something I haven't really ever had to do. Even when fighting against Neil with his Ice Drive.

"You pack quite a punch. But now that I have an accurate gauge on your power I know just how much to let loose." I chuckled, dispelling the wall as I felt the attack fade against it.

"That's a pretty impressive defense. Again. Not many have been able to stop my attacks with that much magic energy behind it." The Wizard Saint praised. Clearly surprised.

"Just one of my many tricks." I replied and felt my magic flow through my body as I activated my second origin. " **Ice God Apocalyptic Wail!** " I roared, the massive breath attack erupting forth from my mouth in a large column of magic. Freezing the ground and all the precipitation on my body with it's sub-zero temperatures.

I watched as Jura erected his defense again. The man was powerful. But I didn't think that even he would be able to defend against the attack. So imagine my surprise when my attack cleared to reveal a still unscathed Jura crouched on one knee behind a single pillar, another fifteen broken in front of the lone pillar.

I felt my mouth slightly hang open. "Damn Jura. Not giving up yet. Huh?"

"Not against people like you." He grunted. Standing back up with noticeable difficulty.

"Honestly I'm surprised you're still standing at this point."

"I'm a Wizard Saint. I don't go down easily."

"I believe you've said that already."

"I like to drive the point home."

"Hm." I hummed and began to prepare another attack when I looked over at Erza and Neil's fight. That had stopped fighting and were now conversing. Their words were lost to me on the wind. But when Neil looked over to me I could see it in his eyes. He wasn't enjoying this. But... Something changed in his gaze. It went from scared and hurt to steely and deadly.

I looked to Jura. The large man had noticed the exchange as well and had stopped to look. He must have noticed the drastic change as well because he met my gaze. "Phase two of Nirvana must have started. You have to go Jura! They'll need you!"

"Hm, it seems that Nirvana has effected you."

"No, it hasn't we do what we have to do. We needed the Oracion Seis to trust us so we met you here and fought. We're on your side."

"Well I'm glad to have a mage with prowess such as yourself fighting with us."

"Let's save this for later. Is anything broken?"

"No. I should be fine."

"Alright then go. Just follow the pillar of light. It'll lead you straight to Nirvana. I have to stop Neil."

/Neil\

I wanted to kill Erza. I didn't know why but all I knew was that I wanted. No, _needed_ to kill the scarlet haired woman. So as I side-stepped a sloppy slash from Erza's sword I knew just the spell that would kill the girl with the highest amount of success. And the highest amount of pain.

I breathed deeply. Letting the air fill my lungs to their max. I then breathed out lowly, the air I had sucked in blew from my mouth in a deep mist. Shards of ice sparkling dimly within. " **Ice Dragon Mist** " I whispered as I expelled the last of the air from my body and watched as the mist snaked towards the confused requip mage.

"What's this?" Erza thought out loud, running a hand through the mist in confusion. She instantly broke out screaming.

" **NEIL** " I heard someone yell from my left, and as I breathed deeply through my nose the smell was very familiar.

Snow.

"Neil! You'll kill her!" Snow exclaimed, reaching me and grabbing onto my shoulders roughly.

"That's the point." I deadpanned, smiling heavily at the wreathing Erza in the middle of the deadly mist. How the attack worked was the mist was filled with small shards of ice. They were all extremely sharp and when touched created many small incisions, about the equivalent of getting repeated paper cuts all over your body. And when breathed in the shards acted as a poisonous gas. Condensing with the higher body heat and filling the lungs up with liquid. She would either pass out from the pain first and then drown. Or stay conscious as she chocked on the very air she breathed.

"No Neil! She's your friend! You can't kill her!"

"A Fairy like her? My friend?" I scoffed. "Stop siding with the enemy, Snow. Now's not the time for this bullshit of yours."

I saw her eyes start to slowly fill with unshed tears, a hurt look etching itself onto her beautiful face. I felt my heart sink at the thought.

"Fuck Snow, now's not the time to be sappy. We have a job we need to get done." I snarled, pulling myself away from her gaze. Erza would die soon. It wasn't something I wanted to miss.

"Neil."

"What, Snow?" I whipped towards her again, my nose scrunched in anger.

She didn't respond. Instead she grabbed both sides of my face planted her lips firmly on my own.

For a moment the world stopped. All I could think about was her soft lips on my own.

It felt like a fog was slowly lifted from my mind as the God Slayer slowly pulled away from me. Tear tracks etched onto her face.

"You shouldn't cry Snow. It ruins your beauty."

"It's glad to have you back." She mumbled. "I was scared for a second there."

"So... You kissed me?"

"It was all I could think of at the time. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"It's fine." I was about to continue when I was interrupted by a strangled scream. I looked over to see Erza still writhing in my deadly mist. " _Shit_!" I swore, instantly breaking into a sprint, stopping just shy of the mist. "Hold on Erza. I'll save you." I promised and inhaled deeply. As I inhaled the mist started to slowly peel away from it's victim. Almost as if it was reluctant to leave. I inhaled until there was nothing left and exhaled again. Although this time there was no mist that came out as I did.

"It's alright Erza. Your safe." Snow cooed, lowering herself down to the sniveling requip mage. It was weird to see her in such a helpless state. Even knowing her for only a couple days had showed that she was strong. Stronger than most of the people I knew.

"What. The fuck was that?" She chocked out, burying herself into Snow's chest.

"That was Ice Dragon Mist." I said quietly. "A spell that both me and my mother, Glace had banned when I made it. It has a hundred percent mortality rate unless I inhale it back into my body. It acts as if it has a mind of it's own and when it's attached to it's victim I'm the only one that can remove it."

"Then why the fuck did you use it on me?"

"It was phase two of Nirvana." Snow explained, "Neil must have been teetering because it swayed him to the dark side."

"Oh. So how did he come to his senses?" Erza asked, her voice becoming stronger and more solid as she began to regain her composure.

"Uhh." Snow smiled, rubbing the back of her head, a blush creeping up on her face.

"It isn't important." I butted in. "What is important is that you're okay. If Nirvana is onto phase two we need to get moving. We can't let Oracion Seis have it for themselves."

"Well. It's good to have you two on our side. I was worried that you guys were actually evil and, i'm fine. The pain has mostly faded now."

"Good. I know you want an explanation and we'll explain later. But right now we need to move."

 **A/N**

 **And that's chapter 10! Hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm thinking there's only going to be a couple more chapter on Nirvana and then I'm going to be transitioning into my own arc. Please remember to review. Tell me what I did wrong, tell me what I did right. That way I can better my writing so you'll enjoy it more! Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 11

/Neil\

"Neil! Wait!" Snow's voice pierced though the air as I walked on. I put a hand up to my face. I could feel the tears coming again. _'I almost killed her... What's wrong with me? Maybe I'm not as good of a person I thought I was...'_ "Neil! Stop!"

My step faltered momentarily as the mages voice cracked. I clenchrd my jaw roughly, my teeth grinding roughly together. I parted my jaw as the words ripped from my throat. "Leave me alone Snow!"

I stopped as I heard loud rustling from behind me and Snow's form emerged from the dense forest surrounding me. Her face was streaked with dirt and grit. But she was still beautiful.

"Neil, what are you doing?"

"What do you think?"

"You are not going back to Midnight!"

"And why not?" I snarled, twirling my entire body around. "Obviously the only thing I'm good at is killing!"

"You know that's not true."

I pursed my lips tightly, my hands clenching. I knew she was right. "Maybe not. But it will save a lot of lives if I do."

"You can't go back, that's what _he_ wants." Snow gingerly took a step forward. Leaves crunched softly beneath her shoe.

"And that's why I need to go. He wants me back. He'll send more people after me. And if the Genies were anything to go by. He's experimenting."

"You're stronger than him." She closed the distance between us and grabbed one of my hands. " _We're_ stronger than him."

"Nobody's stronger than him... He's more of an embodiment of evil than Zeref."

"And we will put a stop to him. I know we can. And maybe even with Fairy Tails help it could be easier."

"We can't drag them into this. It's not their fight."

"Like hell it isn't!" I turned quickly to face the Fire Dragon Slayer. Natsu's fists were clenched roughly. His mouth pursed in a fine line. "You're part of us now! You get that!"

"Natsu. We haven't even known eachother for a week. How can we be one of you guys?"

The salmon-haired slayer jumped up onto a fallen log which was now splintered with age, green moss creeping slowly up its sides. "You may have been part of a dark guild. And I don't think that something many people can look past. But just like you said. You're doing what must be done. You two are family. And you'll do anything for eachother." Natsu punctuated his statement with a short blast of fire from his mouth.

I clenched my jaw for the umpteenth time that day. My hands squeezing tightly onto Snow's own. I felt a tear run down my face. "The fact that you're still able to say that with such confidence after everything we've done..."

"I know what it's like to have someone important too. Now!" He put his left hand on his hip and pointed his right towards Nirvana. "Get your head out of the clouds and let's kick some ass!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Neil\

I moved slowly through the derelict city, I looked around slowly. Drinking up the sights of the ruined buildings. Some were taught with decay others, too heavy to carry their own weight, buckled under the force of standing for decades. I sniffed lightly. Snow's scent was strong. She must be close. Natsu, Gray and Lucy's scent were more together. If the distant sounds of battler were anything to go by. They must be locked in combat.

My gaze shifted to Snow's as she rounded the corner.

"I found Erza. Midnight is out for the count. That leaves Brain."

"Which means that Natsu, Lucy and Gray are locked in combat with him."

"Do you believe they can defeat him?"

"No. But we must be at full strength when Zero awakens."

"I think that you're selling them short. They may be more powerful that you think."

"I have no doubt of their power. But they are reckless. They need to learn discipline."

"When did you become so negative?"

I looked over at her with a small smile. "The moment I tried to kill my friend."

"It will be alright, Neil. Don't let it eat you up."

"I'll try."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Neil\

A scream tore from my throat as the attack slammed into me. I felt my feet leave the ground as I tumbled through the air and crashed into the stone wall behind me. I put a hand up to the large burn mark on my abdomen, tears pricking at my eyes from the pain.

Across the room lay the prone bodies of Natsu, Lucy and Gray. The slow expanse of their chests gave me reassurance that they were still alive.

"I didn't think that the aces of Midnight Stone would be so weak compared to me!" Zero let out a loud laugh. I saw Snow pick herself up the ground. Determination set in her face.

" **Ice God Roaring Halberd!** " She roared, the black ice halberd forming quickly in her palm. She pulled her arm back and launched it forward.

Zero simply caught it in his hand. "Weak." He snarled and blasted Snow with his magic. She quickly erected a barrier, but was quickly overwhelmed in her weakened state. The blast of energy hit her square and she soared limply though the air before impacting the ground in a cloud of dust. Unmoving.

" **SNOW!** " I screamed. Trying to push my weak body off the ground. I heard Zero chuckle and I was swept off the ground and pushed against the wall behind me.

"To think Hunter would have such weak mages in his guild. I expected better." The man looked no more worse for wear. Except for the multiple tears in his clothing and a small trickle of blood sluggishly dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Heh. You say I'm weak. Yet you can't even hold me up for more than a minute."

The guild master looked down at my feet now firmly pressed against the stone with a slight amount of surprise. "You tax yourself without even knowing. Maybe you're weak." I chuckled and sucked in a breath. Zero didn't even expect the point blank breath attack.

I wiped away some blood from the corner of my mouth, I felt it smear slightly across my face as I growled. "Come on Zero. Show me what you got."

Blue light surrounded me as I activated my Ice Drive.

"Gladly." He laughed and another blast of energy shot from his palm. It was immediately stopped by a wall of blackness.

"I think that's quite enough, Zero. Don't you think he's beaten up enough?"

My blood ran cold at the voice of a man I had thought I'd killed. Slowly I turned my head to the left and saw Shade. Standing there with his usual smug look on his face.

"Hey Neil." He said, crossing his arms casually.

"Shade."

"Who are you?" Zero growled. Stepping up close to Shade.

"A real member of Midnight Stone." The mage replied calmly.

Zero grunted loudly as Shade showed him the guild mark. The spherical dot of black swallowing up all the light.

"You should be dead." I growled. The initial disbelief of seeing the dead man walking taken over by anger.

" _Should_ be. But I'm not."

By now Zero had walked out of the room. He seemed to believe that Shade was a member of Midnight. Or maybe he knew all along that Snow and I had been faking.

"You see. Hunter's not the only one able to create body doubles. All I needed to do was make you angry enough. Beating the shit out of Gor was easy. And the look on your face!" He let out a manical laugh that echoed through the silent, dead city. "You see. I'm not the only ones that's wanted you out of Midnight Stone for some time."

"You're a monster."

"Tell me something I don't know." He replied, moving into his fighting stance. "I guess it's time you see what new powers I've been blessed with." He sucked in a deep breath " **Shadow God Bellow!** "

" **Ice Dragon Roar!** "

The two breath attacks slammed into eachother. A stream of jet black fighting against a pillar of blueish light. Although in my weakened state I could feel myself getting overpowered.

"Weak." Shade whispered in my ear. I felt my heart drop as his foot sailed into my side. Instinctively I buckled inward, and he drove his elbow into my back. Pushing me the last few feet back onto the unforgiving ground. "Wow. It turns out you're actually stupider than I thought! Did you not listen when I said I could make body doubles?" He chuckled and flicked my nose roughly. "Or maybe that little sucker ain't working like it used to." He planted his shoe on my spine, the heel digging into my back. "Now gonna say anything? Well you're boring. I wanted you to _beg_ me to not kill you." The weight of his foot left my back and I could hear him begin to pace around me.

"I have no words for a man like you."

"So he does know how to talk! Tell me, did you ever think for a second that is spare your life. Did ya?"

I didn't answer.

"Didn't think so." He formed a spear of darkness in his right hand. "You don't know how long I've waited for this moment."

"I think I could make an educated guess."

"Hm." There was a flash of speed as the magical weapon aimed to pierce my flesh. Although at the last second my ears picked up the displacement of rubble, and there was a loud grunt as Snow tackled Shade to the ground. " **Fucking Bitch** "

"That's me." She smiled and smashed an ice encased fist into Shades face. There was a sound crunch as his nose broke underneath Snow's fist. She brought it back again for another attach but Shade was quicker smacked his head into hers. Snow fell of him, clutching her face and he stood up.

"I should have known that I would have to go through you to kill Neil." The mage growled. "You're just too fucking stubborn to let him die aren't you?"

"He won't die to someone like you, not without a fight." She retorted and began to stand back up. He efforts were met with a hard kick to her cheek.

"Stay away from her you bastard! You're fights with me!" I said weakly, trying to push myself back up.

"Nice try, lover boy. But I'm going to make you watch as every last but of life drains from her." Shade then formed another solid spear of darkness in his hand. And with one swimsuit motion, plunged it into Snow's chest.

" **SNOW!** "

 **A/N** **Yup. That has actually been planned from the start. Anyway.** **Hello readers! It's me again. It's been a while! I am very sorry that I haven't updated the story. I have no excuse. I simply lost interest in writing this story. And I've wanted to give you guys the best I can do. I just didn't feel that I was writing up to my par when I began chapter eleven.** **Now, that being said. I have gone on to pursue other stories to expand my creative horizons in hopes to become a better writer. No, I am not abandoning this story. If anything this was the story that really got me into the prospect of writing. It will keep being updated. In fact. I'm thinking of going back and re doing some of the earlier chapters. I was thinking of re writing from scratch but meh. I'm both too lazy and the story won't have the same flavour it does now. Thank you for continuing to read. I may not say it much but it makes it smile that there are over the twenty follows/favorites. And if even only one person still reads, well. This is for you.** **As always. Thanks for reading, I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 **"SNOW** I roared, forcing my weak muscles to push myself off the ground. "YOU SADISTIC FUCK"

"That's me." Shade chuckled manically and twisted the black spear embedded in Snow's torso. A pained gasp escaped her mouth and Shade ferociously ripped the intruding object from her torso, blood dripping from it and onto the cold, stone ground.

"Stop Shade! Just kill me! Please!" Tears were freely running down my face, my hands fell from under me and I collapsed back onto the ground, only a few feet from Snow's prone form.

"Oh. It would seem I found your weak spot." The Shadow mage chuckled evilly as he stepped over Snow and stalked over to me. He grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me to Snow's still form. "Then you're going to watch as the life slowly drains out of her."

He dropped me next to her and I forced my body into a kneeling position.

I tried to ignore the spreading blotch of crimson on Snow's white shirt as I looked at her face. Her eyelids were fluttering slightly, yet she opened them as I softly caressed her cheek. Her beautiful grey orbs met my ice blue.

"Hey, Neil." She said weakly, putting one of her soft hands over my own.

"Hey, Snow." I choked out, my gaze still locked with her own. Her eyes held so much pain. "You're an idiot you know that."

"Yea." She breathed and sucked in a shallow breath. "But I saved you."

"You shouldn't have."

"Why not?"

"Shade will kill me anyway. I'm too weak to fight him." I used my thumb to brush away one of my tears that had fallen on her pale cheek. "I should be the one dying so you could have fought him."

She let out a breathy laugh, wincing in pain as she did. "You're an idiot." She pressed her lips against my hand, and as she did I could feel her magic energy begin to flow through me, replenishing most of what I had lost.

"What are you doing? You'll die if you give me all you're magic energy."

She pulled her lips away from my hand, icy vines were slowly crawling up my arm from where her lips had been.

"We both know." She paused to suck in a breath. "That I'm not coming out of this alive."

"Don't say that."

"Don't be stupid, Neil." She motioned to her stomach, and the pool of blood that had began to form. "I don't have long left."

"Don't say that!" I cried and buried my face in Snow's neck. "I don't know if I'll be able to go on without you. You're all I have."

I felt one of her hands run through my hair. "Stay strong, Neil."

"How can I stay strong without you?"

"You'll find a way." I could hear her soft voice cracking slightly as she tried not to sob.

"I love you, Snow. Please don't go."

"I love you too, Neil."

As soon as I felt the absence of her hand in my hair I looked up at her face. Her mouth was frozen in a sweet smile, and her eyes were closed. As if she was sleeping peacefully. I grabbed the hand that she had in my hair and missed it softly. "I'm sorry."

"How... Touching."

My sorrow instantly turned to rage as I heard Shade's voice. I instinctively let out a primal growl. "Do you think this is a game, Shade?"

"Of course not. All I want is revenge."

"What did I ever do to you?"

"What _didn't_ you do? I was the one that was destined to be Hunter's protégé. **ME!** " I could feel the magic pressure in the room starting to rise as Shade kept screaming. "Yet **YOU** and you're little bitch friend here had to go and steal that from me!" I stood up, taking a protective stance over Snow's body and, with a small but of requip magic, summoned a small syringe. "Then, while you're prancing around with you're friends I became a failure to the guild! Do you know HOW THAT FEELS?"

"Don't have a tantrum now, Shade." I stuck the tip into my arm. And this time I was able to keep my footing as I was prepared for the pain. I smirked slightly as I felt my magic energy merge with Snow's. I cracked my now white scaled knuckles, my right hand now adorning an intricate, icy pattern of vines.

"So you think you can match up to me, hm? Then let me show you the power I wield!"

The magic pressure grew to a point to where I could barely stand up. With half a thought I quickly formed a shield over Snow's body. The usual icy blue colour of my magic was now run through with veins of black.

" **Shadow God Rampaging Bellow!** " Shade roared, a massive blast of black energy erupting from his mouth. It seemed to suck in all of the light, slightly distorting the air around the massive attack.

"Did you really think I'd fall for that a second time?" I smirked and spun around, smashing my heel into the side of Shades face. "Idiot."

"You seem to be smarter than you let off."

"Good. Then people like you will underestimate me!" I punctuated the last word by leaping forward and reaching for a punch. One which Shade nimbly blocked and danced around my counter.

" **Shadow** **God Breaker.** " He said and his leg lashed out like a snake. I quickly formed ice on my body to absorb the impact and wrapped my hands around Shades head. In one fluid motion I jerked his head down and drove my knee into his face.

"Aggh" He exclaimed, and before he could recover I grabbed his head and smashed it into the ground,creating a small crater upon the impact.

"Come on Shade. I've barely needed to use my magic."

"Oh I'm just getting warmed up don't you worry." He replied and began pushing himself back to his feet. "That's some impressive power you have there. Too bad you're body is still weak."

I growled lowly. I didn't want to admit it. But he was right. The magic energy pumping through me would only be able to hold me up for so long before the physical state my body was in would pull me down. "I can still put you down. Now let's dance! **Dragon God Pillars of Judgement!** " Six large, ice blue magic circles appeared in a circle around Shade, giving off an eerie blue glow. " **Hexagon!** " Large pillars of ice appeared from the circles and slammed into the god slayer. The another appeared above his head and smashed into him from above. I heard him roar loudly from within his icy cocoon.

" **Shadow God Rampaging Bellow!** " The giant breath attack broke free from his makeshift prison and raced towards me.

" **Ice Dragon Vanguard!** " The large shield appeared before me. I felt the attack hit the shield, cracks slowly began to snake from the center of it. "Just a little longer." I told myself and strained my magic to hold it together.

As soon as I felt the breath attack dissipate the shield melted and I leapt into the air, creating pillars of ice to propel me higher. " **Dragon Gods Mournful Wail!** " I screamed, a massive blast of black and blue energy bursting forth from my open jaws. Shade screamed as he was caught up in my attack, and I couldn't help but smirk slightly as I cut off the attack to reveal a still standing, and very pissed off Shade.

"You got lucky that time." He seethed, small wisps of shadow snaking off of him. "But you will die tonight."

"You may think that." I replied, and began to ready another attack. As I did I could feel a spike in magical power from somewhere below me. _'Natsu... Best of luck to you my friend.'_ "But I will never lose to someone like you!" I roared and began to create a small ball of ice between my two outstretched hands. " **Dragon God Secret Art.** "

"Two can play at the game. **God Slayer Secret Art**."

Wind began to pick up around us as we both readied our attacks, neither of us looking away from the other.

" **Formless Oedon Draconic Spire!"**

" **Black Demon Imminent Destruction!"**

The wind abruptly stopped as a multitude of black and ice blue magic circles began to appear all around Shade and I.

" **Be** **judged by the power of dragons!** "

" **Die at the hands of the gods!** "

The two attacks exploded simultaneously, my attack sending out thousands of small shards of ice that entombed Shade, before a gigantic magic circle appeared under the Shadow Mage and exploded upward in an icy spire. While Shades simply just exploded at random, sending my body flying in all directions.

I felt a small scream escape my mouth as I tumbled through the room, when finally they stopped and I collapsed to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"Fuck." I swore and looked over at where I had encased Snow in ice. The barrier around her body was still unscathed and I breathed a small sigh of relief.

"I mist say I'm still surprised you're still standing after that." Shade observed as he limped heavily over to me. I pushed myself off the ground, still ready to fight. Although I could feel myself getting weaker.

"I could say likewise." I looked down at a large hole that had been punctured in his right leg, although surprisingly he wasn't bleeding. "But it seems you're not completely unscathed." I looked down at the small burn marks on my body. _'I need to wrap this up. Or I won't be leaving alive.'_

"I must say I'm impressed. You're fighting more passionately that you ever were as a part of Midnight. Pity."

"You don't have to do this Shade. You can just walk away."

"Oh, no I can't just walk away Neil. Not while you're still breathing. I'm sure Hunter will be able to get over you're death when he realizes how much stronger I am."

 _'He's giving me no choice. I'll have to use_ that _spell.'_ "I'm sorry Shade, but you leave me no choice." I sucked in a deep breath, filling my lungs up fully. " **Ice Dragon Mist.** " The cloud slowly crawled from my lungs. Then, fast ad a bullet as if it sensed Shades presence. It snaked it's way to Shade.

"Enough if your party tricks Neil's. Now's not the ti-" His voice cracked as the mist wrapped around his legs. Instantly he bent down and tried to wave it away with his hands. Although quickly his hands began to bleed with a number of small cuts as well. "What are you doing to me?" He screeched and tried to blow it away as it began to envelop his torso, but ended up coughing and choking as it entered his lungs as well.

"I must commend your hardiness. Anyone else would be on the ground writhing in pain by now." My mind flashed back to Erza screaming and crying on the ground. "If you want me to end it, I will."

"Fuck you." He replied, his voice heavily strained. By now the mist had fully covered his body, and cuts began to appear all over his body as it ripped through the fabric of his clothing to expose his mauled skin beneath.

"I can make this go on as long as I want to."

"I'll never submit to you." His voice was becoming extremely gravelly and blood was leaking healthily from between his lips, staining his teeth a stark crimson. He let out a loud groan of pain and collapsed to his knees, tears were leaking from his eyes, almost as if he were fighting back against a scream.

"Don't make me torture you Shade."

The mage didn't answer. Instead he let out a cry of pain and fell over sideways, his blood staining the rocks.

"End it Shade!" I pleaded, as he locked eyes with me. But there was no submission in them. Only challenge. "So be it." I forced myself to watch as the once powerful mage was slowly killed by the mist. _'It's for Snow.'_ I told myself. Although it was a sight that I probably would never be able to erase from my mind. _'It's for Snow.'_

It took another ten minutes before the body before me finally stopped moving, the mist retreating back to my body, it's job finished. I didn't look down at the brutally mutilated body as I walked over to Snow's cocoon. I laid a tentative hand on it and it melted. Freeing the deceased mage from it's icy confines. "I did it Snow." I smiled, sinking to my knees and grabbing her ice cold hand. "All because of you. I did it." As I began to feel the tears begin to pick at my eyes again I felt a large amount of magic power all around me as the cores of Nirvana was saved. And as the magical weapon collapsed around me, I could feel my world collapsing with it.

 **A/N**

 **Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!**

 **So, as a request from Arkham Knight 22. I'm going to probably be writing a Christmas special that will come out sometime over the holidays. Whether it will be something completely separate or part of this story, Im not sure. But it'll be happening.**

 **Thanks for reading! And have a good holiday!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N Just as a trigger warning. Although I'm sure if you've gone this far you probably don't mind dark themes. But this chapter and probably the next one or two. Will contain alcohol abuse and suicidal themes. I do not condone** **either of those practices.**

The main room was buzzing with activity. Mages sat at wooden tables that were scattered among the chaos. Jewels were being tossed back and forth as some gambled their hard earned blood money. Other, more pleasurable activities were taking place in the dark spots of the room that were not lit by the braziers placed at moderate intervals. All the laughing and chatter stopped as I stormed past the mob of bodies. My cloak flapping heavily behind me, eyes alight. Two other figures followed behind me in a similar fashion. Although their steps were without purpose. The crowds gathered around the gambling tables parted to let me pass. Good. They wouldn't have wanted to stand in my way. As soon as I began to ascend the stairs at the far end of the room the room came back alive. Although I still caught the curious, fearful glance.

I reached a door at the top of the stairs and I ripped it open. The hinges squeaked in protest from the force but held. "Wait here." I growled to the two guards accompanying me.

"Amara. How nice for you to drop by." Hunter greeted, although I wasn't listening. Instead I looked to the scarred face that was currently pouring a drink of some alcohol into a glass.

"What the _fuck_ did you do?" I shrieked the fire in my eyes flared, painting the room in an eerie orange light.

"Whatever are you talking about?" Gor replied, although a smirk creeped up his face dangerously.

"I know you were the one to order her death! Why!" I stalked up to the large man, grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wooden cabinet. Glasses and bottles clattered within.

"Now let's not get violent."

"You stay out of this old man!" Fire began to snake up the cabinet. Gor's face was slick with sweat from the intense heat.

"Killing her was the only way I could get to Neil. She would have never let anything happen to him."

"Is that you're excuse? Pathetic." The fire instantly dissipated. The cabinet was unburned. "You killed my friend. She was _your_ friend."

"Was she?" He flashed me a wild grin. The glass he was still holding onto exploded in a flash of light. The liquid within splashed onto the concrete floor. "Don't make such accusations."

"You're a bastard." If my eyes weren't on fire I knew I would have been crying. "Consider this my resignation, master." I said to Hunter and ripped off the pheonix pendant that was around my neck. Throwing it to the floor. The fragile glass it was made from shattered loudly. "A master of purgatory is nothing without her guiding moonlight."

/Neil\

I dipped my head back, gulping down the contents of the glass viciously. When the glass was relieved of its contents, I set it softly back onto the bars clean counter. Next to six others.

"Sir. It's only five in the afternoon. We've just opened." The portly bartender said as he wiped another spot on the island. "I think you should probably slow down. You've been drinking like this for the past three days. Maybe you should rest. Go on a trip. There are many sights to see in Arianelle."

"I don't think they pay you to offer advice old man." I growled and slammed some more jewels onto the table. "But I'm paying you to fill my drinks. So fill them."

The man looked at me sadly, but grabbed the bottle of whiskey again and poured me four more glasses. Satisfied I downed two of them quickly. At this moment. One of the downsides to being a Dragon Slayer was we had a natural resistance to alcohol. So I wasn't feeling it's effects yet. I was about to gulp down the next glass when the bar's door opened and an unfamiliar scent filled my nostrils.

"Hello Jim." The man said and took a seat at the bar, right next to me.

"Hello Karl." The bartender, Jim replied and set down a glass he was scrubbing. "What can I get for you?"

"Oh I was just dripping by. It's been a few days." The man, Karl leaned in closer to the bartender. "Whose this guy?" He said under his breath. Although my advanced hearing picked it up quite easily.

"Not sure." Jim murmered back. "He came the other day. Been getting drunk here ever since. I saw the mark of Midnight Stone on him."

Karl chuckled, "Midnight Stone huh? He must be a freak. Everyone knows that guild's just a myth."

"Is it? What makes you think that?" I butted in, swivelling my stool to face the newcomer. Making sure he could see my guild mark. "Humor me. I'm in the need of some comedy." I smiled widely. Making sure he could see my canines.

"Maybe I should just g-"

"No no no. You've already dug yourself in a hole, don't dig it deeper." The whiskey on the bar counter began to freeze. I stood up and leaned close to his face. "Now humour me. Or I'll have to find another way to have some fun."

The man stayed silent. Looking up at me with large, scared eyes.

"Fair enough." I chuckled evilly and formed a black veined dagger in my hand. "I wouldn't touch that lacrima if I were you." I said to the bartender who was slowly inching his hand towards a lacrima behind him. "It'll only serve to make your death more miserable."

Half an hour later I looked up at the squad of Rune Knights that jogged past me. Although their forms were blurred from both the rain and my intoxication. None spared me a glance, nobody would expect some random drunk. I lifted the whiskey bottle back up to my lips - my third - and I growled when no liquid rushed passed my lips. I threw it to the ground and it shattered, just like the last two.

I looked down at the large bloodstain on my shirt and pulled my cloak tighter around me.

It didn't take long before I was standing in my inn room. It was rather dull. The curtains were ragged and moth bitten. The beds mattress was hard and it's stained yellow sheets thin. Although I didn't really care. A single cabinet was shoved against the far wall. The wood slightly moldy. And off to the left was a small bathroom. The toilet was disgusting and the shower didn't fair much better.

My feet instantly carried me to the toilet as I felt my gut lurch. I caught a brief look of myself in the mirror. My hair was ragged and unkempt, sticking out at random. I had large bags under my eyes and they were rather sunken. My eyes. When once I used to see pride and wonder reflected back was only pain and sorrow. I kneeled Infront of the toilet and began to vomit out the contents of my stomach "Guess I shouldn't have ripped out that guys throat with my teeth." I chuckled to myself as I looked at the blood in the toilet. I continued to laugh to myself as I collapsed into a heap onto the creamy white floor. The edges of my vision beginning to blacken. And I continued to laugh as I was swallowed by the abyss.

"Neil Glacian!" Glace roared as her large form focused into view above me. "What are you thinking you stupid boy!" Her claw slammed me into the snowy ground. Powder kicking up around us.

I glared up at the Ice Dragon. All traces of my intoxication gone. "What do you care about anything?"

"What do you mean? I'm you're mother." Her eyes drilled into me. Asking for a challenge. The temperature around us began to drop to where even I could feel how cold it was. "You disgrace the life and the power I've given you."

"I don't care. You're just some figment of my imagination anyway." I tried to move out of her grip but her large claws dug in deeper beneath me.

"Why did you kill those people? They did nothing. And in such a horrible way..." The dragons voice trailed off slightly. "That was not how I raised you."

"Why should I care how you raised me? You left ME! If I'm so special why would you leave?"

"I wish I could explain to you why..."

"Why can't you? Why is it that everyone that I've come to love has left me? My _real_ parents, you, Hunter, Gor, Snow. WHY."

"Hunter is a maniac. You should be glad you're not acquainted with him anymore. And. As much as it pains me to admit Gor and Snow's deaths were unchangeable."

"They could have been if you would have trained me better! How does it make you feel that you're star pupil can't even save himself?"

"Neil... You know that amount of ethernano at one time will kill you."

"What if that's what I want?"

"And why would you possibly want that my little dragon?"

"Because I have no one left! I can't go back to Midnight. I can't show my face at Fairy Tail after what I've done. I'll be banished to isolation. I didn't even know I had a last name until a minute ago!"

"There are still people care about you, Neil."

"Like who?" An image of a crimson haired woman flashed through my mind. Her eyes were a blood red. Her face was tanned and well shaped. "Amara? She only cared about Snow. She was infatuated with her."

"Which means she knows your pain." Glace replied softly. Her claw lifted off of me and allowed me to stand up. "Don't ever think that you're the only one suffering Neil. You must power through your pain. You are meant for greatness."

A few tears escaped my eyes and froze to my cheeks. "Don't feed me that bullshit." I sat down roughly. "Even if you are real, I shouldn't even care what you think. You were never there for me when I needed you the most anyway." The last thing I saw before I was swallowed up by the blackness once again was Glace turning away from me. A sad, forlorn look on her face. Until then. I didn't know dragons could cry.

"So you're up." Caydes gruff voice broke through my stupor and I sat up abruptly, my eyes snapping open to glare at the council member.

"What are you doing here? How did you fine me?" I bared my teeth at him threateningly as a growl rose up from my throat. Surprisingly all the traces of my night last night were gone.

"Two murders at a bar. Bodies were quite heavily mutilated and pinned to the walls with spikes of ice. It was fairly easy to track your path after that."

I looked down at my still bloody shirt and realized that I was now laying in the bed. "You moved me to my bed?"

"Yes. After I made sure you didn't choke in your own vomit and cleaned up everything you had spewed in the bathroom." His nose wrinkled lightly. "By the way. That's a lot of ethernano you got hanging around. A lethal dosage in fact. Even if it's slightly diluted. Care to explain?" He flashed the two syringes at me and I felt my heart sink a bit.

"It's nothing you would care about. You're going to take me in anyway aren't you?"

"No. I'm not. I know of Snow's fate and I am deeply sorry for your loss. Now answer me or you're not getting these back."

"You know what they're for." I felt myself almost reluctant to admit out loud that I was thinking of ending my own life. As if I knew it was a mistake.

Cayde tossed the syringes at me, which I deftly caught, and sat down on the bed. It sunk under his massive size. "You're an idiot."

"Not the first time thats been said to me."

"You know. I may not know you well, but you're a pretty solid guy." He stood up again and began to pace the small length of the room. "Besides. Im out of the council."

"What?"

"Heh, yeah. After those two shits knocked you out at Clover I trashed the place quite well. Council didn't like that. So before they could decide my fate I resigned. Been looking for you for the past couple days. I have been expecting that you want to take down Midnight Stone. Of which I knew you were a part of at our first meeting. And your fight with the Genie only solidified the claim." He tapped his neck as if to signify my guild mark. "I was wondering if you would have wanted some help. But if you would rather off yourself... I understand."

I looked down at the syringes in my hand, and with a quick thought they disappeared." Why would you want to help me?"

"We're both loners with no where to go. Don't people like us usually stick together and save the day?"

"If this we're a fantasy I'd say yes. But you're crazy. How did you find me anyway?"

"I just asked around. I may have only served as the councils enforcer for s few years but I did my job well."

"Ah." I nodded passively as stood up from my bed. "Well Cayde. I will think on your offer."

"Alright. I'm going to go take a walk." He waved in farewell as he exited the room. The door closing shut loudly behind him.

/Amara\

The light from the full moon barely penetrated the thick foliage cover above us, casting an eerie light over the forest floor.

"Full moon tonight." Echo, one of my body guards observed. Her hood was down and her platinum blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. The moon illuminated her pale, freckled face. It reminded me of cinnamon sprinkled over vanilla ice cream. Her eyes were a stark ocean blue. She looked over at me with a thin smile.

"Indeed. Although I don't think we need to worry much about werewolves tonight. I don't believe that there is much lycanthropy around here."

Echo grunted in response and shifted her shoulder. The bow on her back shifted slightly. "Strife said the paths all clear. We should keep moving. Or try to make camp."

"Okay. I'll be along shortly."

"Is everything alright Miss Amara?"

"What makes you ask that?" I turned fully to face my companion.

"You've seemed lost these last few days. I knew that Snow meant a lot to you but..."

"She did, yes. And the loss of her still hurts. But my main concern right now. Purgatory is fickle. I need a catalyst to focus my magic as it drives off my emotions. I like to have more control over my fire so I usually use love and compassion. But with Snow dead I don't have a catalyst for the magic anymore. Which could make it very dangerous. And I'm not in a position to learn a new form."

"That is... Understandable."

"You remind me a lot of her you know."

"Snow?"

"Yes."

"Whys that? I'm not exactly the most beautiful person. Snow's looks were unparalleled."

"Nonsense. You are very beautiful." I smiled brightly at her and strode softly over to her. She blushed lightly as I cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes. The blonde leaned forward, probably with the intent to capture my lips with her own but I stepped back. A large smile on my face. "We should get back to Strife before he comes looking." I leaned on and kissed the archers nose softly.

Echo coughed lightly and inclined her head, probably hiding a blush. "Of course, miss."

"Call me Amara."

 **Thanks for reading. Let me know if there are mistakes.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Just a quick note. I post updates on how far along I am in a chapter on my profile. So if you're ever curious check that out. Also I will be revising my earlier chapters. No changes, just bringing them up to par with how I write currently.**

/Neil\

I looked down at the two syringes in my hand. The liquefied ethernano that was swirling inside reminded me of toothpaste. _'You're worthless'_ A voice in the back of my mind whispered. I felt my hand clench. Surprisingly not hard enough to break the syringes. "Shut up." I said to nobody. My voice cracking slightly.

 _'You couldn't even save the one you loved.'_

"I tried. I tried."

 _'You should be dead'_

"She died for me. I promised I would love for her."

 _'But you aren't living. Are you?'_

I wiped away the tears that had begun to crawl down my face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why not?" Shade appeared before me. Leaving cockily against the far wall. A large and manical smile stretching across his face.

"You're dead. I killed you."

"Dead in a sense. You killed my physical body. But with the tests Hunter preformed on me. It was easy enough to attach to your body. If I can't kill you one way. I'll kill you another way."

"I won't let you get the best of me." I stared angrily at the dead man. Who stared back, no a hint of fear on his face.

"Oh I will. It might not be tomorrow. It might not be within the next decade. But you will break. And when you do. I'll be waiting." His laugh seemed to come from all directions as the image of Shade disappeared. I clasped my hands over my ears in an effort to keep out the noise. The syringes discarded on the cold floor.

"You're not real. You're not real." I repeated the sentence over and over for what seemed like ages until the laughter finally stopped. And once again, I was alone.

I eyed the bar hungrily as I munched on a piece of pork. My gaze passing over each of the shining bottles as if they were treasure.

"Don't even think about it." Cayde's voice somehow seemed more commanding than usual as he set his coffee mug down on the table. "I'm cutting you off."

"What say do you have in what I do with my life?" I snarled, baring my teeth at him menacingly.

"As a friend, I'm cutting you off. I won't have you a drunken mess if we get attacked by your butt buddies from Midnight."

"They aren't my buddies and they never were. I'll drink all the liquor I want."

"No you're not."

"And who are you to stop me?"

I didn't have time to even throw up a guard as Cayde's form flashed yellow and I was slammed onto the table. The dishes clattered loudly beneath me and I swallowed heavily against the hand that was pressed against my throat.

"You listen to me and you listen good. I will take none of your teenage drama. If you want to have a tantrum you take it away from me. You will not consume _any_ alcohol. And if I even see you holding _one_ of those syringes out of a fight you'll be on your ass so fast you won't even be able to shout for help. **Do I make myself clear**."

I didn't answer. Opting instead to stare daggers. His golden eyes studied me for a few heartbeats before he let go. Most of the patrons were staring at us. I bared my teeth at them and stalked towards the stairs leading to my room. Leaving Cayde to deal with his spilt, and slightly frozen coffee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Amara\

"Why do you want to find Neil? He could be anywhere. He might not even be in Fiore anymore." Strife rebuttal, his face glowing a dark orange from the campfire.

"Because, Strife. You and Echo don't have any inherent magical power besides what's imbued in your weapons. Neil is strong. We need him."

"I will not let you drag my sister around the continent on a wild goose chase. We are your sworn protectors Miss. But I need to think of my sister. We've only been on the road for four days and we're already weary. We didn't pack near enough food for us all."

I sucked in a breath and glanced over to where Echo was sitting on a rock near the edge of the fires light, silently fletching arrows. Although I could see her jaw was clenched. "Don't speak for Echo. She has a will of her own."

"She's my little sister. I know what's best."

"You're being overly protective. She's twenty years old, Strife. She's a fully grown woman. She can make her own choices."

Because of either lack of a retort, or knowing it was the truth. The fair haired man's mouth closed with an audible clack. "I'm going to go hunting." He snatched up his sword from where it rested on a rock and tied the scabbard around his waist before he stalked off into the dark woods.

"Your brother needs to chill sometimes." I commented, looking over to where Echo sat silently.

"He's been like that for as long as I can remember. Pretty much ever since our parents died." I watched as she expertly tied sinew around the arrow head, then moved on to fastening her signature bleach white feathers. She was taught by her mother.

"He's barely a year older than you."

"I think he's always took it upon himself to be my protector. Although I do agree. He can get a little overbearing." She shifted on her rock a little as I plopped down next to her. She shifted her head slightly so her hair cascaded down the side of her face. Concealing her features.

"Listen, about last night..."

"It's fine. I wouldn't want to be a burden to you."

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?" She snarled. The arrow she was so carefully fletching snapped in her grip. "I'm sorry I'm not Snow, alright? And if you only love me because of that. You can go fuck yourself." She tossed the splintered pieces of arrow into the fire and following suit to her brother, stalked off into the dark forest. I watched as her cloak disappeared into the endless blackness. Leaving my alone with my thoughts, and my throbbing heart.

"Where's Echo?" The voice penetrated my restless sleep. I cracked open my eyes, my body still seated on the rock. And looked up to Strifes illuminated face. The sun must have just begun to rise, casting it's golden glow on the land. When did I fall asleep?

"She went out to scout the nearby city." The lie flowed easily off my tounge, for all I knew she was scouting the town.

Strife nodded animatedly and lowered himself to the ground. The fire was not yet embers. "How long were you awake for?"

Good question.

"I had trouble sleeping." The truth. But not the full one. A truth to accompany a lie. "When did my sleep schedule ever concern you?" I asked sleepily, harshly.

"I am your sworn protector. I can inquire about your sleep when I wish."

My memory flashed back to when I had first met the pair. I was on a job to guard a dark guild while most of its members were away. I was younger then, barely a woman. And curiosity had gotten the better of me. It wasn't long before my feet had brought me into the dungeon. I followed noises of screaming and crying to where I found the pair. Strife had been chained to a wall. Less scars had adorned his face. And his hair was still golden. His eyes were wild, teeth bared at the man who was currently having his way with his sister. I don't know if it was the wild look of Strife. Or the pleading in Echos eyes that had made me incinerate that man. They repaid their debt with servitude. And I had no remorse as I burnt that guildhall to a pile of ashes. "I appreciate it. But I'm not helpless."

His eyes seemed to flash with regret as he must have made the connection to the events of the previous night. "I'm sorry." His turquoise eyes scanned the foliage behind me.

"Don't be. And don't worry about last night. I had no place to dictate how you treat your sister."

"You were right. Maybe I am too protective. But I can't forget our time in the dungeons. Those times where I watched helplessly as those men ravaged my sister. I can't help but see the tears in her eyes and her cries for help. And I could do nothing. I will not let that happen again." His eyes grew distant as his voice cracked slightly. He drew in a loud breath and abruptly stood up. "I'm going hunting." He declared, "I suggest you should follow after my sister. Arianelle is large." Always the calculator. Always the commander without an army.

I nodded in agreeance as the unspoken words passed between us. _'Make sure my sisters safe.'_

 _'I will.'_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Neil\

I looked over to Cayde as he walked beside me. His stride was true, yet his face was unreadable. As it had been since I snapped at him. I felt guilt pull at my heart. I should be happy he was willing to follow me. Should be happy he was willing to help me. I flinched as the shard of Shade laughed within me. His words from before echoing in my head. _'You will break'_

"Is everything alright?" I was too caught up in my thoughts to realize we had stopped. And the large man was looking down at me. A mix of worry and fear in his eyes.

"I'm fine." I said weakly and looked at the store sign. "A tailor?"

"Yes. I know a friend from here. I'm sure she would be willing to help our cause."

"What is our cause?"

Cayde studied me. "You want to take down Midnight Stone do you not? You're stupid if you think you can do it alone."

"I _can_ do it alone." I said roughly. _'I don't want to see you die'_

"No. You can't. So can you stop being a stuck up little boy for once and take help from your friends." His eyes were full of rage now. And hurt.

"I don't want anyone else to die for me." His gaze softened.

"You won't fight this war alone." He laid a hand on my shoulder and ushered me inside.

The small shop was nice. Assortments of pre-tailored coats, armor, hats... Everything were hung on the wall, stacked on shelves and sling over racks. The smell of cured leather filled my nostrils with such a fury that it was an effort to keep my eyes from burning. Yet entwined with it was a strange, new scent. A door opened from behind the porcelain white counter and a woman, looking to be in her thirties, stepped out.

Her hair was an onyx black. A black that was only rivaled by my guildmark. Her skin was heavily tanned. Most of it covered up by a tanning apron. And her face. A beauty to rival Snow's.

She fixed me with dark brown, almost black eyes. Then looked up to Cayde. "I was wondering when you were going to show your face again." Her voice was harsh. The experience of years dealing with angry customers.

"Is that the only greeting I get, Nona?"

"Last time you were here you scared away more than half of my monthly customers."

"It wasn't my fault they all looked at you like they owned you."

There was past between them, then.

" _You_ have never owned me either."

Cayde chuckled deeply. "Okay, you win."

Her lips turned up in a grin. Showing white, pointed teeth. Vampire.

"Despite everything it is nice to see you again Cayde. What can I do for you?"

"Well. Not just me. But for us." Nona's gaze flicked to me. Her eyes were ancient. She was probably centuries old. "We need a list of Midnight Stone's satellite guilds. All of them."

"That's a big job. With big jobs come big prices."

" Is my body not enough?" Cayde said roughly, in a tone that made me shudder.

Nona leaned on the counter with a grace only an immortal could possess. Purposely, I realized when my eyes caught the sight of her breasts. "Normally I would take you up on that offer." She said with a feline grin. "But this time it won't be enough."

"Can't blame me for trying." The large man replied and reached into his pocket dimension. Pulling out a briefcase. "Exactly one million jewels. I'm sure that will suffice." The counter seemed to sag under the briefcases weight.

Nona unlatched the item and looked inside. "You have a deal, enforcer."

 **A/N**

 **So. I have decided that I'm going to be taking in OC's. I have predicted that I will need a maximum of six for now. There is a limit to my creative ability so I would like to see what my readers can come up with. I won't put in a template as of yet. As u don't believe I'll need one. Hopefully. You can send me your applications and if I need anything I'll just re message you. Really the only restriction is no slayer magic. Unless you can convince me well enough. Good luck. And thanks for reading.**


	15. Chapter 15

/Amara\

I huffed heavily as I walked through the gates of Arianelle. The guards had let me go. Barely. My hand ghosted over my left thigh, exactly where the guild mark was emblazoned, impossibly dark. The mark that forever marked me as a killer. A monster.

I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head, and absentmindedly scanned the faces of the individuals who were contesting the street. Neil wouldn't be here. It's too congested. Neither would Echo.

"Excuse me sir." I asked, walking up to one of the many trade stalls that lined the bustling street. An assortment of fruit lined his stall. "But could you point me to the poor district?"

The man looked up at me, his hair was a ruddy brown, as we're his eyes. His eyes traveled over my face for a few seconds before he spoke. "What business do you have in Arianelle?"

"To see a friend." It wasn't a full lie.

His eyes scanned me again. "This place isn't safe. Not many travellers come through here."

Shit. "Why?"

"Have you been living under a rock?" He sneered, waving a dirt covered hand around. "The crime in Arianelle is horrid. Just the other day two men were slaughtered at a bar. Ice Magic they said."

"What kind of Ice?" I had to try and push the man for more information. It had to be Neil.

I realized my mistake when the man glared at me accusingly. "I have a feeling you know something about this."

"Maybe I'm thinking of someone else." I muttered. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a few jewels. "For you trouble." I stated and smacked them down on the counter.

The man inclined his head towards me in thanks. And without anither thought. I merged with the crowd.

It didn't take long for me to track down the offending inn the man had spoke of. Especially not with the plethora of Rune Knights that were congegrated in the area. A few had small devices out and we're running them along the floor and walls. Probably searching for Neil's magic signature. Not that they would find it. If he was good at anything, it was hiding his magic.

I was about to step closer to the Knights when someone cleared their throat next to me. Slowly, I turned my head to face them.

"You should move along, miss. There's nothing to see here."

"Excuse me? Were you not expecting my arrival?" I bluffed, my face contorting in anger.

"Miss Eleanore was not expected until tomorrow afternoon." The man replied professionally, a rather smug look on his face. "But let me see your council ID."

 _'Why do I do this to myself'_ I coughed into my arm before I began to rummage in my pockets. Time. I had to buy time.

"She's with me Captain." My head turned towards the newcomers voice. He had a head of short, yet curly black hair. His dark eyes ran over me, as if assessing a threat. Before they flicked to the Rune Knight. Although I couldn't pull my gaze away from the large scar that ran diagonally across his face, just narrowly missing his eyes.

"Enforcer." The Captain replied, dipping his head in respect. "I had heard you left the council."

"I have." The dark haired man said and grasped my shoulder in a firm grip. "But I trust my name still holds sway."

"Of course. People like me have not forgotten your service."

The 'Enforcer' smirked lightly before turning to me. "We should get going." His eyes bore into mine. He wouldn't take no for an answer. "Of course!" I answered sweetly. _'Wait until your in a secluded place, then you can kill him Amara.'_

"You haven't told me your name." I said as we walked down the deserted streets. Light still streamed through the houses. It was later than I thought.

"Cayde." Was all he said, and I could swear his grip tightened.

I was about to open my mouth again when Cayde moved. Faster than I've seen anyone move before. And smashed me into a wall, the cobblestone buckling slightly under the impact. His hand around my throat. "What do you want with Neil." His eyes spoke of death. Painful, slow.

Luckily, the courtyard was deserted as I ignited my body. The man let out a yelp at the sudden increase of heat and I slammed a foot into his abdomen, pushing him back. "How about you get to know a person before you assault them." I snarled. I didn't care if this man knew of Neil. I wanted him _dead_.

A primal growl rose from my throat as I began to let the magic of Purgatory flow through my veins.

"What are you doing here Amara."

Wait. What?

I snuffed out the flames on my body and turned to face Neil. His once well kept hair was disheveled, dirt clung to it in clumps, as if he hadn't showered in weeks. His once bright eyes were dead. If he didn't just speak, I would have thought he was dead. He rubbed at the large bags under his eyes. "Are you going to answer me or are you going to stare at me?"

"What happened to you?"

Rage flashed across his face for a brief second before he relaxed again. "What hasn't happened to me." He said blankly, his mouth twitched.

"I'm so sorry about Snow."

"Don't talk about her like you knew her. None of Midnight gave a shit about her well being. Not even you. You only wanted someone to warm your bed."

Fire flew though my veins as I clenched my fists. "How dare you say that about me."

"Don't to me like I'm lesser than you. You know damn well I'm stronger than you." His voice held venom. But his eyes betrayed nothing.

"I don't think you understand-"

"What don't I understand?" He burst out, baring his teeth. Eyes suddenly becoming alight. "The moment Shade almost killed Gor, and not one of you lifted a finger to help. You betrayed me."

"So you don't know?" I shifted on my feet. Neil stood, unmoving a few feet away. Cayde was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't know what?" He snapped.

"The moment you left, Gor declared himself co-leader of Midnight Stone. He was the one that sent Shade to Nirvana."

His face faltered for a second before his lips curled in a snarl. "You lie."

"I wish I was. Gor was a great man. Was."

"Shut up." He blurted out and lifted a hand up to his head.

"Neil please just listen."

"Shut up" He repeated. His face contorted into a look of pain before he fell to a knee. "You have no control over me."

Without thinking I rushed to the Dragon Slayers side. I kneeled down beside him, placing an arm on his back. He was shaking. "Neil what's wrong?"

The young man groaned loudly and fell forward. His face contorted in pain. Eyes black. "Neil?" Panic coursed through me like a wildfire as he began to convulse. "NEIL"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Neil\

"Leave me alone!" I roared as the apparition of Shade appeared before me. He had pulled me into my mind scape. Although this time it wasn't a frozen waste. It was a desolate plain. The grass was a dull, dead brown. Not a tree in sight.

"I told you I would break you. All I needed was a chink in your armor."

"I'll kill you."

"I'm already dead." He chuckled menacingly, his body dissipating into a mist. "You can't kill something that doesn't exist."

"Watch me."

"Really?" He appeared beside me, arm wrapped around my shoulders. "I mean. I am you. If I die you die."

"How are you a part of me?"

"You see. One of the things Hunter gifted me with was to haunt the person that killed me. He hoped it would be Snow. He wanted to see her break. See her scream for mercy." He gave me a little pat on the cheek. "But you killed me. Which means I get my wish. And I get you see you beg me for mercy as I destroy all you love." He smiled as horns ripped free from his skull.

"Your sadistic." I tried to move but found I couldn't. He had me trapped in my own mind.

"Oh but isn't that the fun of it!" He laughed heartily. "Man I can't wait to kill Amara using your power. Oh **man** it'll feel good!"

A vision of Amara crying flashed through my mind, I clenched my teeth in frustration. "I won't let you hurt anyone." Even as I said the words I knew they were futile. He used my distress to strike. Giving him a solid foothold in my consciousness. He wasn't leaving.

"Really? I control your mind Neil." He flicked my nose. "You can't even muster the strength to fight back."

"He doesn't need to."

My blood froze at the familiar voice. And I smiled at the familiar coolness that accompanied Glace. I saw a flash of white in my vision as the large form stepped over my paralyzed body. Protection.

"Ahh you must be Glace. So. How did Neil dream you up?"

"I'm a part of Neil. Just as you claim to be." She growled lightly at the dark man, her frigid tail wrapping around me in protection.

Shades face went blank for a split second before a toothy smile cracked across his face. "Ahh. I see. It seems like I'll have to destroy you as well."

The man races forward faster than lightning and, without the aid of magic, punched Glace in the snout.

There was an unfamiliar cracking noise as the impact drove into her snout. An enraged roar followed the blow as she snapped out with her teeth. But the man had already disappeared and reappeared above the Dragon.

"You call yourself a dragon?" He yelled and formed a spear of shadow, similar to the one that killed Snow in his hand. " **Shadow God Judgement Spear!** "

Glace nimbly dodged out of the way, her tail unravelling from around me, and roared.

Holy God's.

I gawked at Glace as she released the massive breath attack. Easily twice the size, if not three times the size of my own. The jet of magic that erupted from her jaws dwarfed her relatively small dragon form as it soared towards Shades position in the sky.

I gasped as my eyes reopened to the world. I could feel tears leaking from my eyes as I stared up at the starry sky. A strong scent or cinnamon filled my nose and Amara appeared in my view. Worry written across her face.

"Neil! Neil what happened?" A surge of rage flowed through me. A rage that was quickly overwhelmed by panic and fear.

"Shade." I choked out, finding it surprisingly hard to breathe.

"Shade is dead Neil. You saw to that yourself."

I began to sit up but Amara pushed me against the stone. "Neil. What happened?"

"Where's Cayde?" Darkness began to creep at the corners of my vison. I couldn't be alone with Amara.

"He left before you passed out. I don't know why."

Darkness began to fill my vision. It's inky blackness pressing in on my consciousness.

"Neil are you alright?" I didn't respond as my head fell back. And I lost myself in darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Amara\

"Fuck." I cursed and quickly checked the unconscious dragons slayers pulse. Strong.

"What did you do?" Cayde's baritone voice momentarily startled me.

"Nothing. He just started to act weird. Talking to himself. Then he passed out. Twice." I shot back. I wouldn't let this man deter me. My magic tugged at me. It was Echo. "Where did you go?"

"I was making sure nobody was around. I don't trust you."

"Likewise." I growled. If not for Neil. This man would be a smoldering corpse.

I tensed slightly as rocks shifted behind me. Cayde appeared in my peripheral. "Im worried for him. I know he's been considering suicide."

" Why?" I turned my head towards him. His lips were pressed in a thin line. I found myself comparing his face to that of chiseled stone. Rough but smooth. The man was handsome, I'd give him that.

"Snow meant a lot to him. She was all he had. And having her die infront of him was probably shaking."

"Yeah but, suicide?"

"Losing someone you love can do a number to someone." His face went dark. "The choice is up to us whether or not we continue to fight. Neil just needs a push in the right direction."

"Have you lose someone?" The question left my lips before I could catch myself. "I'm sorry I-"

"Yes I have." He cleared his throat loudly. "And as weird as it is I consider Neil a friend and I dont want to see him fall to darkness. He's not bad. He's just misled."

Cayde stood up and brushed off stray rocks that clung to his blue pants. "We should get off the streets. We've been staying in an inn not too far from here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/Neil\

 _"Glace?"_

 _"Yes little one?"_

 _"How old are you?"_

 _I smiled sheepishly as her laughter echoed across the cave walls. "It's not polite to ask a female her age little dragon."_

 _"Oh." I looked down at the book I was studying. All about Fiore's history._

 _"I am more than a few decades old. We'll leave it at that."_

 _"Have you ever been scared of dying?"_

 _Her icy eyes scanned my small form. "Yes." She replied simply and dropped to her stomach. "I am nearing the end of my life. I fear everyday could be my last."_

 _"But you're a dragon! Stronger than everything!" I threw my hands up in exasperation. "What are you scared of?"_

 _"Dragons fear many things too. And I'm afraid those things you won't understand until you're older."_

 _"You'll teach me though, right?"_

 _Yes_ _little one. And I will stay by your side for eternity."_

"Neil. Neil you have to wake up!"

Amara's desperate voice pierced through the veil constricting my mind. I sat up quickly, ignoring the frost that coated my room in a thin coat of white. "What?" I asked, my mind still to foggy to wonder why the mage was in my room. Why were my ears ringing?

"Grab all you can. We have to go!"

Cayde burst though the door. A thin layer of sweat coated his figure and he wiped some sort of brachish substance from his face. Was that blood? "It won't be long before we're overrun. We need to move."

That wasn't ringing. That was screaming." What's going on?" My mind began to race with all the possible scenarios. Cayde disappeared in a flash of light. Gone as fast as he came.

"Arianelle is under siege."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/** N I **would just like to thank everyone who has favourited or followed the story. I usually take the time to personally message everyone but I've been slacking so bad lately. So, to those I haven't and have thanked. Thanks for continuing to read my story! I hope you continue to enjoy it.**

/Neil\

"Come on Neil we need to go!"

Amara's voice barely registered within me as I pushed myself up from my bed. I quickly made the short journey to my window and pushed the curtains aside to reveal the city beyond. If you could even call it much of a city anymore.

My jaw went slack as I beheld the flames that began to engulf Arianelle, the orange tendrils of light reached up into the sky as if they were trying to grasp onto the very stars themselves. Screams reverberated through my body, seemingly entwining with my entire being, as if the life was being sucked out of me. _'I did this. This is my fault'_

"Who is responsible for this?" My voice sounded dark, but fragile. As if Amara could wave her arm and shatter my very words.

"Midnight. They are responsible. Cayde is sure he saw the mark."

I squeezed the wood of the windowsill so hard that cracks began to appear in it's structure. "Why can't that bastard leave me alone?" I asked nobody as I could feel my magic begin to broil within me, seething with hatred and malice. "So much death. And it's all on my head."

"Don't think like that, Neil." Amara was beside me in an instant. Subconsciously, I latched onto the warmth she offered as if it were a lifeline, the only think keeping me anchored to the reality. "Hunter has done this. The deaths are on his head. Not yours."

"But he wouldn't be doing this if not for me. Launching a full scale attack on a city in almost unheard of. He's trying to get to me." It was true. As far as I could remember, no Dark Guild had ever been bold enough to launch a full scale siege on a city. Not only would it paint a big target for the guild themselves, but the losses of the guild needed to be taken into account as well. Midnight was strong. But could it really decimate a city?

"That may be," She put a hand on my shoulder, "Which is why we can't play into his hand. As much as you want to. And as much as it may be for your own redemption. You need to keep a straight head. If Hunter gets you know, Snow's death will be for naught."

I was about to snap after she mentioned Snow. But held my tongue, and mulled over her point. She was correct, after all. Playing into Hunters hand at this point in the game would only lead to disaster. And possibly the loss of more lives with the destruction we would wreak. On the other hand, if we could beat back Midnight now, they would be demoralized. That would keep them down for a while, and hopefully off my ass.

But there was also the problem with the mutations. The Genie's and Shade had all said that Hunter had given them gifts. Had amped their power in some way or form. And that would post a problem in the long run. Not only would it mean that the members of Midnight were more powerful. Djinn and Jinn were a testament to that. But it would also mean that the guild itself could become a powerhouse. Whatever Hunter was experimenting on. He had domination in mind.

"I can see that you're thinking." Amara observed and backed away a few steps. I found myself missing her proximity to me. "But we need to go. It won't be long until the raid reaches our position, then we will have no choice but to run. As if to drive her point home, an explosion, followed by multiple screams shook the ground.

"Okay. I'll go." I looked back out the window. Every bit of my moral compass screaming to jump out and take on the forces of Midnight head on. Regardless of my own life. I bowed my head, and whispered a silent apology to those in the city who had died, and who would die for, in a way, my sake. Even if they would never hear it. I pulled my gaze from the view, steeled myself. And walked away.

/Amara\

 _"Miss Sky, can you hear me?" A voice, followed by hurried knocking._

 _I opened my eyes sleepily, only to find my room was still dark. "Ty? Is that you?"_

 _"Yes Miss, may I enter?"_

 _"Of course." My voice was followed by soft footsteps as Ty entered my room, and came to stand by my bed. "Miss Sky, your mother has contacted me and has requested me to lead you off the premises with due haste."_

 _I sat up in my large bed and rubbed my eyes. "Why would Momma want me to leave when I can just stay in my room and sleep?" Even though I was only seven, I was well aware that my mother dealt in less orthodox dealings with some of the local guilds and mercenary groups. She had warned me about this one just a few days ago. But said that I didn't need to panic,_ _'This meeting will be just like any other one'_ _she had assured me._

 _My butler watched me patiently as I slowly and sleepily crawled out from under my bedsheets and smoothed out the wrinkles in my nightgown. "The Lady was very adamant that I remove you from the house. I am not entirely sure why myself. But she just wished to keep you safe. Nothing more." I looked at the sword he had buckled around his waist. It was nothing new. The aging man took it with him everywhere. Mother had told me once that Ty had used to be a very renown blademaster. Now his short, styled hair had begun to gray. His face seemed to be growing progressively wrinklier with every passing season. But he never lost the warmth that was captured within his dark brown eyes._

 _"She will be okay though, right?" I yawned lightly and proceeded to stretch. "We were supposed to continue my training tomorrow."_

 _"I'm sure she will be. Not only is your mother smart, but she is also a very powerful mage. I would be more worried for those she was conducting deals with than I would be for her."_

 _The two of us began to walk down the long marble hallway in relative silence. Ty stayed a few steps ahead of me, his hands clasped behind his back as we followed the familiar path to the exit._

 _I was about to open my mouth when I heard the shuffle of feet behind me, I whirled around just in time to see a blade strike out for me before it was skillfully parried by Ty's own. Their swords clashed together a few more times before Ty disengaged to stand by my side, a hand held out protectively behind him. "Amara, when I say. You need to run. You know the way. I will keep him busy here."_

 _The man was cloaked in all black, covering any features that the man had. Dark bits of blackness shone through two pits where his eyes were, promising nothing but malice. In his hand he had a simple sword, incomprehensible runes were carved onto its deadly blade. "No! I can help!"_

 _"Don't be stupid Amara!" Ty snapped and engaged the strange man again, their swords clashed together in a deadly dance. Neither giving ground. Suddenly, faster than I could see the man knocked Ty's sword aside and sheathed his own within Ty's abdomen. The aged man let out a small grunt, "Go."_

 _I screamed, truly screamed. It was a scream of horror, of sadness, of malice. I felt my magic begin to boil in my veins, a flame that filled me with a familiar warmth. "You killed him!" I roared, my small fists clenching in fury as I stared the man down._

 _He simply wiped the blood on his runic sword on his black clothing, his eyes fixed on me as if I were a small mouse to an owl._

 _"You... **KILLED HIM** " I snarled, letting out all my rage, my magic continued to build within me like a wildfire, burning hotter than it ever has before. There was a glint of silver as the man thrust his sword toward my chest. And my world was swallowed by fire._

"Are you alright Amara?"

"Yes, just, thinking." I clasped my hands behind my back as I observed Arianelle. Currently we were perched on a hill that overlooked the city. If one could even call it that anymore. The once prosperous city was now reduced to nothing but smoldering ruins and rubble. Not three hours ago had it been whole .

"Its a show of power." Neil commented as he moved to stand beside me. "And a message."

"He's showing that Midnight Stone will no longer hide in the darkness. He's planning something."

Neil merely grunted his approval. "I'd like to thank you. For keeping my head on straight."

I turned to look at him. Into his ice blue eyes. He was struggling, I could tell. If he had a choice, he would be down there fighting with every last bit of strength he had against Midnight. Not for revenge, no. He had let go of Snow, I could see it. But for redemption. Redemption for all the wrongdoings he had done in the name of Midnight Stone. "You know, dying for the sake of a greater cause isn't going to wash away your past."

He blinked. "Maybe not, but what else can I do? I have done nothing with my power except destroy. Maybe it's time I do some good for the world."

"There is already enough good in the world. We are just fighting to keep it that way, are we not?"

"Yet we let Arianelle fall."

"Neil. Even a forest must burn before it can be green again. Arianelle can be rebuilt. Those who lost their lives may never come back. But let that make you stronger. Let it fuel your drive to fight against the forces of evil. Dying now, would have done nothing for us. We did the right thing, who else will stop Midnight Stone if not for us?"

"We are the only ones who know the entrance. Hell, even the location."

"Exactly. If we were to die, so would our fight."

He nodded animatedly and looked out over the city once more. "Thank you, Amara. Snow was always so positive about our way in life. But I realize now that's not what I needed to hear."

"Its a shame she had to meet an end when she did."

"You loved her."

Not a question. A statement. "I did. She was an amazing woman."

"She was." I could see tears begin to flow down the Dragon Slayers cheeks, I watched them run down his cheeks. And found it was funny that even though he was so cold, the tears still ran down his face until the plummeted to the ground.

"I'm glad that you two had the time together that you did. Even if it was short."

"Yeah. You know, I used to wish that I was dead instead of her. But I realize now that maybe that might not be the best thing." He coughed into his hand. "Well I had better go find Cayde, I don't think it's quite safe to camp this close to Arianelle."

I watched him as he walked off. He walked confidently, with purpose. My mind flashed back to the other night, I would have to confront him about Shade sooner or later. But for now, his happiness was good. We all needed happiness. If there was one thing that would probably get us through the next days. It would be that.

I whipped around, startled as a twig crucnched loudly behind me. "It's just me." Echo spoke quietly as she gingerly walked up towards me.

"I'm sorry. You just startled me." I replied and turned back to the city. By now the fibrant orange flamed had mostly died, leaving behind smoldering rubble in its wake.

"We did the right thing." She said. As if trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince me.

"We did." I didn't want to leave the people behind. But it had to be done. War isn't won by committing good deeds.

"At least Neil is beating himself up too hard about it. He seems changed."

"He does. And it's good. We need him to be on his right mind if we we're ever to have a chance."

"Do you think we do? Have a chance."

"Yes. I think we do. We just have to play it smart." I turned my head towards the sky and looked up at the stars that twinkle above us. "There's always a chance for those with good in their hearts to triumph."


End file.
